[2025] UKUT 249 (AAC)

The starting point is that tribunals are a creature of statute and circumscribed accordingly. The point is made plain in Fish Legal v Information Commissioner [2015] UKUT 0052 (AAC), in which the Upper Tribunal held that parties cannot by consent endow a statutory tribunal with jurisdiction which Parliament has not conferred. The question of whether jurisdiction is present is one for the tribunal to determine on the basis of the relevant primary legislation.

The guiding statutory provisions for present purposes are to be found in the Social Security Act 1998. Any subordinate legislation or procedural rule must be construed to align with the policy and intention underlying the primary legislation and must be interpreted compatibly with the limitations identified by the Supreme Court in Secretary of State for Business and Trade v Mercer [2024] UKSC 12, particularly where section 3(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998 is concerned.