Caselaw summaries

Tribunals – claimant and her representative attended the video hearing remotely from abroad without having applied for permission to do so

Tribunals – right of appeal – ‘any time’ revisions – ‘official error’ ground

Tribunals – jurisdiction – claimant requested a mandatory reconsideration (MR) of a UC decision regarding his housing costs – DWP responded by saying an ‘MR was not necessary due to a policy issue’, subsequently also said the decision was a necessary result of the legislation and suggested the claimant sought a discretionary housing payment

Tribunals – risks of drawing inferences from the medical treatment that a claimant has (or has not) received), and from fact claimant had not been issued with aids and appliances

Tribunals – claimant with physical injury and dizziness – tribunal erred in not weighing claimant’s evidence and not making clear findings of fact, but instead in rejecting the appeal having strayed into speculating about whether the claimant’s needs actually arose from choice and ‘traditional roles’ in the claimant’s family, a matter on which it heard no evidence

Tribunals – claimant with ADHD and dyslexia – tribunal erred in proceeding with a telephone hearing without considering whether that was fair and whether reasonable adjustments, including allowing his mother to assist him, could be made

PIP – claimant with ASD, ADHD and PTSD – tribunal erred in basing finding that claimant’s fatigue did not result from a health condition on fact that claimant was able motivate herself to work for 37.5 hours a week

Carer’s allowance – calculation of earned income – whether claimant an employed earner or self-employed

Universal credit (UC) – closed period supersessions – not possible in advance or on basis of anticipated change of circumstances

Personal independence payment – activity 9 (engaging with other people face to face)