Legal

The Upper Tribunal judgment in this case holds that a claimant who does not ask for backdating when they initially make their claim of universal credit ("UC") and does not amend their claim before it is decided, can nonetheless obtain backdating by later requesting a revision of the decision which only awarded UC from the day on which the claim was submitted. There is therefore no need for a claimant to have made a request for backdating at the claim stage in order for it to be considered. SSWP appealed to the Court of Appeal and the appeal was heard on 7 November 2023. The judgment of the Court of Appeal is awaited.

This is a challenge to the policy of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (SSWP) that she will not make payments of universal credit (UC) or advances unless and until a claimant has a national insurance number (the ‘NINo Rule’). The judicial reviews were unsuccessful at first instance but the claimants appealed to the Court of Appeal. The case was heard in the Court of Appeal on 30 March 2023 and judgment was given in favour of the claimants on 25 May 2023. The Court of Appeal refused SSWP's application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court on 13/06/2023 and SSWP made an application to the Supreme Court. On 18/10/2023, the Supreme Court refused SSWP's application for permission to appeal.