Michael Monaghan v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (UC): [2026] UKUT 325 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision of Judge Church on 19 August 2026.
Read the full decision in .
Judicial Summary
This appeal is about the proper test for, and approach to, determining whether a claimant can be treated as having Limited Capability for Work Related Activity under the “Risk to self or others” provision in Paragraph 4 of Schedule 9 to the Universal Credit Regulations 2013.
The Upper Tribunal finds that the First-tier Tribunal misdirected itself in law as to what work-related activity fell to be considered when assessing whether that provision applied, narrowing the scope of its inquiry without explaining clearly how or why it did so, and failing to explain how it came to the conclusion that the activities the claimant might be required to undertake would be “reasonably-targeted, flexible, or capable of being completed at his own pace”.
Further, because the Tribunal did not consider the Schedule 6 activities put in issue by the claimant’s UC50 at all (the Secretary of State having accepted the claimant having Limited Capability for Work), it did not engage in the holistic assessment of risk that the structure of UC Regs requires.
The Upper Tribunal set the decision aside and remitted the appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for rehearing.