HI Health Ltd v The Pensions Regulator

Facts

HI Health Ltd appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) against a Fixed Penalty Notice issued by the Pensions Regulator on 4 February 2026 in the sum of £400. Before the substantive appeal could proceed, the Tribunal raised of its own motion a concern that it might lack jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, and by case management directions required the Appellant to provide further information and documents concerning any review the Regulator had undertaken of the penalty. In response, the Appellant completed the Tribunal's "Pensions – Right to Appeal" form, thereby taking the opportunity to make representations as to why the appeal should not be struck out for want of jurisdiction. The Appellant accepted that it had applied to the Regulator for a review of the penalty, but that the application had been made outside the statutory 28-day time limit, so that the Regulator had declined to carry one out. The Appellant nevertheless contended that the Regulator's refusal correspondence should itself be treated as a review decision capable of founding a right of appeal. The Appellant produced that correspondence, in which the Regulator confirmed that the review application was late and that no review had been conducted. The matter was determined on the papers, without an oral hearing, by Tribunal Judge Kiai.