DT v Secretary of State for Defence

Facts

The appellant, D.T., is a veteran who claimed a war pension in January 2014. After an earlier entitlement decision of the First-tier Tribunal on 1 April 2021, a decision-maker in Veterans UK made an award on 2 September 2021 for the accepted condition of PTSD, which includes anxiety and depression. The award was an interim assessment of 20% disablement, taking effect from 8 January 2014. The appellant appealed that assessment and sought 80%. A First-tier Tribunal dismissed the appeal on 27 April 2023, but that decision was later set aside for procedural reasons. The appeal was relisted before a new panel of the First-tier Tribunal (War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Chamber) in Manchester. On 4 September 2025 that panel raised the interim assessment to 30%. It made detailed findings about the appellant's daily functioning, isolation and symptoms. On his work history, it said only that he had stopped work some time ago, and that at the date of the decision under appeal the average man of his age would not be working. The appellant was born in February 1951 and had stopped work in 1999. The First-tier Tribunal refused permission to appeal. Upper Tribunal Judge Wikeley granted permission on both grounds on 2 May 2026, after an oral hearing on 30 April 2026. The Secretary of State then supported the appeal on the first ground.