Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v E (BB): [2026] UKUT 71 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision by Judge Scolding on 12 February 2026.
Read the full decision in .
Judicial Summary
Mrs E applied for Bereavement Support Payment nearly 4 years after the death of her husband. The SSWP refused the claim on the basis that it was out of time. The First Tier Tribunal allowed the claim on the basis that the Tell Us Once service should have proactively advised her of her right to ability to claim such payments, and a failure to do so was negligent and discriminatory. The FTT also found that using the Human Rights Act 1998, the relevant regulations for making such a claim must be read so as to give a discretion to extend time to make a claim where it would otherwise be a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights not to do so.
The FTT approach was wrong in law. There is no compulsory obligation for the Tell Us Once service to advise people of their right to claim benefit. Moreover, it is not negligent not to do so. It was also not a failure to make a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010. Whilst E suffered from mental health problems, having a rule which had a cut off date for BSP was not a breach of Article 1 of the First Protocol read with Article 14.