[2024] UKUT 261 (AAC)

On 23 October 2022 the DWP decision-maker decided that the Appellant did not meet the conditions to be entitled to the additional bedroom allowance for A within her Universal Credit housing costs element.

On 17 November 2022 that decision was upheld on mandatory reconsideration. The explanation given was that “you do not qualify any of the above conditions set out, to allow an extra bedroom. Your daughter [A] spends 13 to 14 weeks at home during holidays and summer breaks. This meant that she spends more time at the University, than at home. Therefore, because she spends most of her time at university, you are disallowed for having an extra bedroom for her.”

It will be apparent that the decision-maker regarded the test for whether a person “normally lives” in one place as being determined by a (relatively crude) test of time spent at each location – in other words, the place where the person spent more time was the place where they normally lived.

On 5 December 2022, and as a result of this decision on entitlement, another DWP decision-maker decided that there had been an overpayment of Universal Credit. This was accordingly set off against an underpayment of the Universal Credit child element that was agreed to be due to the Appellant.

The Appellant then appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (‘FTT’) against both the entitlement and the overpayment decisions.