Stephen Mark Parkinson v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (CA): [2026] UKUT 243 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision by Judge Paines on 11 June 2026.
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Judicial Summary
The claimant claimed carer’s allowance in 2009 and disclosed earnings above the earnings limit. He was awarded carer’s allowance in error. He was required pursuant to regulation 32 of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 to notify increases in his earnings. His earnings increased in 2011 and annually thereafter. The claimant did not notify the Department of the increases. In 2020 the Department discovered the overpayment following a random check and issued a recovery decision. The First-tier Tribunal held that payments made prior to the unnotified increase in the claimant’s earnings were not recoverable but that payments subsequent to the first increase were recoverable as the claimant had failed to disclose the material fact of his increased earnings.
I have held that the overpayments are not recoverable. The claimant had failed to disclose the fact of the increases, but had previously disclosed the fact of his having a level of earnings exceeding the earnings limit. The fact of the further increased earnings was not objectively a material fact in the light of the facts already known to the Secretary of State. Further, the continuing payments were not made in consequence of the non-disclosure but were made in consequence of the original error, which the claimant’s silence left uncorrected.