R (on the application of Jwanczuk) (Respondent) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Appellant)
| Court | Supreme Court |
| Judge | Lord Reed ,Lord Lloyd-Jones ,Lady Rose ,Lord Richards ,Lady Simler |
| Judgment Date | 20 November 2025 |
| Neutral Citation | [2025] UKSC 42 |
| Hearing Date | 11 March 2025,12 March 2025 |
| Issue Date | 20 November 2023 |
| Docket Number | UKSC/2023/0152 |
| Respondent | Daniel Richard Jwanczuk |
Michaelmas Term
[2025] UKSC 42
On appeal from: [2023] EWCA Civ 1156
JUDGMENT
R (on the application of Jwanczuk) (Respondent) v
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
(Appellant)
before
Lord Reed, President
Lord Lloyd-Jones
Lady Rose
Lord Richards
Lady Simler
JUDGMENT GIVEN ON
20 November 2025
Heard on 11 and 12 March 2025
Appellant
Sir James Eadie KC
Zoe Gannon
(Instructed by Government Legal Department)
Respondent
Ben Jaffey KC
Tom Royston
(Instructed by Public Law Project)
Page 2
LORD REED AND LADY SIMLER (with whom Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lady Rose
and Lord Richards agree):
1. Introduction
1. There are two main issues raised by this appeal. The first concerns the lawfulness
of a condition imposed for receipt of a Bereavement Support Payment (“BSP”) by the
Pensions Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”). BSP is a non-means-tested contributory benefit
directed at assisting with additional expenditure typically associated with a spouse or
partner’s bereavement. It is payable to the surviving spouse or partner of a person who
dies on or after 6 April 2017 but only if “for at least one tax year during the deceased’s
working life … he or she actually paid” relevant national insurance contributions. We
refer to this as “the contribution condition” as defined by section 31(1) of the 2014 Act.
2. The second issue raises an important constitutional question as to the approach of
the senior courts (the High Court and the Court of Appeal) of England and Wales to
decisions of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal (and vice versa), on an identical
question about the meaning and effect of United Kingdom legislation that applies in both
jurisdictions, or legislation which is distinct but in identical terms. It arises because the
Northern Ireland Court of Appeal held in an earlier case that the contribution condition
in the equivalent Northern Irish provision for BSP unlawfully discriminated against the
surviving spouse or partner of a person who through disability was unable to work
throughout his or her working life and thereby satisfy the contribution condition; and the
lower courts in this case concluded that they should not depart from that decision. Though
resolution of this second issue has no practical effect on this court’s approach to the
substantive issues raised by the appeal, it is important to set the correct approach for those
courts to take. There is no doubt that decisions of courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction should
be accorded great respect in this situation, but the question is whether the threshold set by
the Court of Appeal in this case (the decision of the other appellate court must be clearly
wrong or there must be compelling reasons to depart from it in an exceptional case) is too
high.
3. The respondent to this appeal is Daniel Jwanczuk who was born in January 1977.
His wife, Suzanne Jwanczuk, known as Suzzi, was born in 1974 and had a progressive
degenerative condition called Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy that meant she was
severely disabled. She and the respondent had known each other since they were children.
They fell in love and started living together as young adults. They married in 2005.
Although Mrs Jwanczuk had hopes of going into paid employment, at least in the earlier
stages of her illness, she never did so. The respondent cared for her until her death on 20
November 2020, when she was just 45 years old. His witness statement describes their
relationship and her courageous struggle to make the most of her life despite her
disability.
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