Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v SPL

Facts

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions decided in January 2021 that the claimant, anonymised as SPL, was subject to recovery of an overpayment of income-related employment and support allowance of £9,904.35 covering the period from 31 August 2017 to 5 August 2020, on the footing that she had failed to disclose a change to the members of her household which meant she was no longer entitled to the severe disability premium. A civil penalty of £50 was also imposed. A mandatory reconsideration notice issued on 31 March 2021 left the overpayment decision unchanged. In March 2022 the First-tier Tribunal dismissed the claimant's appeal, but in January 2024 Upper Tribunal Judge Mitchell allowed her further appeal and directed a rehearing before a fresh tribunal. At the rehearing in February 2025 the First-tier Tribunal, Judge J R Findlay sitting at Durham Justice Centre, allowed the appeal: the bundle contained the overpayment decision but no copy of any prior entitlement decision revising or superseding the award, and the presenting officer could not say what the terms of the 'M3000 CHANGE OF CIRCS' letter recorded as issued on 9 October 2020 had been. The Tribunal held the Secretary of State had not discharged the burden of showing a valid supersession decision was made and issued, so there was no recoverable overpayment and no civil penalty. The Secretary of State appealed with permission granted by the District Tribunal Judge.