[2025] UKUT 020 (AAC)

The second ground of appeal on which I granted permission to appeal was as follows:

“The FTT erred in deciding that there was a second PIP claim [on 29 July 2022 which brought the Appellant’s entitlement to PIP on the first claim to an end on 28 July 2022] – the Respondent could arguably only decide entitlement to PIP on a properly completed and valid claim. Even on the facts found by the FTT, assuming the evidence did support it, the claim was not properly completed and was defective by virtue of Regulation 11(4) of the Regulations and the defect was not corrected in compliance with Regulation 11(6). Further, there is no date on which the [second] claim was made for PIP pursuant to Regulation 12 [because Regulation 12(1)(b) provides that the date on which a telephone claim is made is the date on which it is properly completed].”

The second issue raised by this appeal is whether the FTT materially erred in make findings in relation to the second PIP claim that invoke the principle ‘the Secretary of State has made a later decision on a later claim for the same benefit’ per [16] of GG.

This first involves deciding whether the second claim to PIP was properly made by the Appellant: was this when the second claim to PIP was made in a telephone call, even if the claim is defective and not completed because not all the information required for the DWP to determine the claim is provided, or was it only properly made when the PIP2 questionnaire was returned and only then was the claim both properly made and completed? It then involves determining whether the second claim to PIP was decided by the Secretary of State: does ‘a decision’ require a completed claim and a decision refusing or granting it on its or merits based on the required information being provided or does a negative determination for failure to progress a claim and provide requested information suffice?

The Appellant adopted the observations set out in my decision granting permission to appeal that when an initial attempt to make a claim is abandoned and the defect is not remedied in accordance with Regulation 11 there may be no properly completed or valid claim on which a decision to refuse PIP could be made. The Appellant argued that his second claim to PIP remained a defective claim that could not and did not bring an end to the PIP entitlement which began in April 2021. Therefore, the FTT erred in law in ending the Applicant’s entitlement on 28 July 2022 because there had been no valid decision on the second PIP claim because the claim was not valid or properly completed but remained defective.

He submitted that it is the Respondent’s decision on entitlement to PIP under the new claim that is operative. At the time of the hearing before the FTT in March 2023, DWP had not yet have made any decision refusing entitlement on the telephone claim made on 29 July 2022 because there was no valid claim because he had not yet returned his PIP2 questionnaire. In other words, at the time of the FTT’s Decision, the Respondent had not made a decision refusing his second claim and the FTT erred in finding this to have occurred on 25 September 2022. The Respondent had simply not progressed the Appellant’s second claim to determination as it had not been completed. Likewise, a claimant could presumably withdraw a PIP claim before it is completed without the Respondent even make a formal decision or determination on entitlement. In the absence of any formal decision or determination refusing entitlement to PIP on a second valid claim, the FTT erred in limiting the award on the first PIP claim to the day before the making of the second claim (28 July 2022).

The Appellant argued that there was no valid decision refusing his entitlement to PIP on the second claim and he did not give the Respondent the required evidence upon which to make a valid decision following the telephone call on 29 July 2022. Therefore, the claim ran out of time, it was defective and there was no completed claim nor valid decision to refuse entitlement from 29 July 2022. Therefore, the FTT erred in ending the award on the first PIP claim on 28 July 2022.