SD v Newcastle City Council: UTAA 17 Aug 2010

UTAA The claimant’s appeal to the Upper Tribunal is allowed. The decision of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne First-tier Tribunal dated 30 January 2009 involved an error on a point of law and is set aside. It is appropriate for the Upper Tribunal to re-make the decision on the claimant’s appeal against Newcastle City Council’s decisions dated 8 November 2007 and 18 December 2007 (Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, section 12(2)(b)(ii)). The decision as re-made is that the appeal is allowed and that the various decisions relevant to the periods identified in the notice of decision dated 6 May 2008 did not as at 18 December 2007 fall to be revised or superseded in respect of the period from 8 December 2006 to 23 September 2007, because the claimant was throughout that period on income support, so that the amount of her capital was to be disregarded for housing benefit and council tax benefit purposes, and that there is on the current state of the decisions no overpayment of housing benefit or excess council tax benefit for that period. In relation to the period from 24 September 2007 to 31 March 2008, where the claimant’s appeal against the decision dated 8 November 2007 that the awarding decision was to be superseded and excess council tax benefit was recoverable was also before the tribunal of 30 January 2009, the decisions under appeal are confirmed except for the amendment of the period of excess council tax to 24 September 2007 to 9 December 2007 (to take account of the subsequent award of housing benefit and council tax benefit with effect from 10 December 2007 made on 14 February 2008). The amount of the consequent excess council tax benefit recoverable from the claimant under regulation 83 of the Council Tax Benefit Regulations 2006 is to be calculated by the Council in accordance with paragraph 18 below. If the result of that calculation cannot be agreed on behalf of the claimant, the case is to be referred back to me or to another judge of the Administrative Appeals Chamber for further decision. I deal in paragraph 20 below with how all that leaves the case for the future.

Citations:

[2010] UKUT 306 (AAC)

Links:

Bailii

Benefits

Updated: 23 August 2022; Ref: scu.423242