Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Phillip Buckley

Facts

Mr Buckley's partner died in November 2018. At that time cohabiting partners could not claim bereavement support payment, but the Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2023, which came into force on 9 February 2023, retrospectively amended section 30 of the Pensions Act 2014 so as to entitle cohabiting partners with dependent children to the benefit from 30 August 2018. That order was made to remedy the incompatibility with the Human Rights Act 1998 identified in R (Jackson) v SSWP. Mr Buckley claimed bereavement support payment on 10 February 2023. The Secretary of State, by decision of 13 February 2023, refused the higher rate, because Mr Buckley had not, after the bereavement, become entitled to child benefit under section 141 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 as required by regulation 4(4) of the Bereavement Support Payment Regulations 2017: although he was solely responsible for their youngest child, a qualifying young person who had lived with them before the death, he had never claimed child benefit, and by 2023 was out of time to do so. The First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber), Judge P Johnson, allowed his appeal on 7 November 2024, holding that "entitlement" in section 141 meant entitlement to be paid and did not require a claim. The Secretary of State appealed with the First-tier Tribunal's permission.