PT v Secretary of State for Defence (WP): [2026] UKUT 165 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision by Judge Church on 27 April 2026.
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Judicial Summary
PT, a former Royal Marine, challenged the First‑tier Tribunal (“FtT”)’s decision reducing his war pension disablement assessment. In considering PT’s mental disablement, the FtT had directed itself that it could not take into account two pieces of documentary psychiatric evidence because they post-dated the decision under appeal.
The Upper Tribunal reviewed the statutory framework, in particular section 5B(b) of the Pensions Appeal Tribunals Act 1943, which prohibits taking account of “circumstances not obtaining at the time when the decision appealed against was made “.
Applying established authority (including R (DLA) 3/01), the Upper Tribunal held that evidence created after the date of the decision under appeal is admissible to the extent that it sheds light on the claimant’s condition as it existed at that earlier time. The FtT had misdirected itself. Instead of excluding the evidence simply because its creation post‑dated the Secretary of State’s decision, the FtT should have analysed whether the evidence, or parts of it, spoke to the relevant period. The Upper Tribunal rejected the Secretary of State’s argument that R (DLA) 3/01 and CM v Secretary of State for Defence [2021] CAF/795/2020 should be distinguished because they related to schemes that had a forward-looking element.
The Upper Tribunal set aside the FtT’s decision and remitted the case for rehearing.