[2024] UKUT 308 (AAC)

This appeal is about identifying the correct start date for an award of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) following a claimant’s transfer from Disability Living Allowance (DLA). It is concerned with a particular and narrow sub-set of such cases, namely those that have been subject to a negative determination which has subsequently been overturned. The appeal involves consideration of the proper application of regulations 13 and 17 of the Personal Independence Payment (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/387).

The general rule in DLA transfer cases is that the start date for entitlement to PIP is determined by reference to the date of the Secretary of State’s entitlement decision, and not the date of the PIP claim (see regulation 17(1)(b) and 17(2)(a) and RS v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP) [2016] UKUT 85 (AAC)). However, there is an exception for cases in which the claimant has been subject to a negative determination which is then reversed on revision or appeal. In these cases the start date for PIP entitlement is determined by reference to the original date on which the DLA claim was terminated following the negative determination (see regulations 13 and 17(2)(b)).

In the instant case the First-tier Tribunal erred in law because it applied the general rule rather than the exception to that general rule.