NK v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP): [2025] UKUT 363 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision by Judge Stout on 20 October 2025.
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Judicial Summary
The First-tier Tribunal erred in law by wrongly regarding the appellant as having put in issue on the appeal the descriptors in respect of which the Secretary of State had awarded her points because she had appealed on the basis that she should have been awarded more points in respect of those activities. The “issues” in the appeal for the purposes of section 12(8)(a) of the Social Security Act 1998 are the descriptors that are in dispute between the parties, not the descriptors in respect of which the Secretary of State has awarded points. Those descriptors are not in issue in the appeal, although the Tribunal has a discretion to consider them, provided it acts fairly in raising the additional issue(s).
In this case, the First-tier Tribunal had not acted fairly because it only warned the appellant in general terms that it had power to decrease her award as well as increase it. The Tribunal should also have identified the specific descriptors in relation to each activity where it was minded to reduce the points that the appellant had scored so that the appellant would have a fair opportunity to address the Tribunal’s concerns.