Elizabeth Whitehead v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Facts

The appellant, Miss Elizabeth Whitehead, claimed personal independence payment (PIP) on 7 June 2023. She completed a PIP2 questionnaire and had a video consultation with a healthcare professional on 4 August 2023. Acting on that professional's advice, a Department for Work and Pensions decision-maker decided on 16 August 2023 to award her no points for any of the daily living or mobility activities. The decision was maintained on mandatory reconsideration on 10 October 2023, and she appealed to the First-tier Tribunal. After a telephone hearing on 5 August 2025, the First-tier Tribunal dismissed her appeal in a decision dated 6 August 2025. In doing so it relied heavily on the healthcare professional's report and on her work as a social prescriber, her care of her children and her ability to drive. A salaried First-tier Tribunal Judge refused permission to appeal, and she applied directly to the Upper Tribunal. On 16 March 2026 Upper Tribunal Judge Butler granted permission on five grounds. These were: failure to apply the reliability criteria in regulation 4(2A) of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013; inadequate reasons for relying on her employment, childcare and driving, or reliance on irrelevant considerations; misdirection on mobility activity 1; reliance on events after the date of the decision; and failure to engage with the occupational therapy and access to work evidence. The Secretary of State supported the appeal.