[2023] UKUT 00164 (IAC)

In approaching submissions reliant upon inadequate reasoning, it is helpful to bear firmly in mind the observations of Lord Brown of Eaton under Heywood in South Bucks County Council v Porter [2004] UKHL 33; [2004] 1 WLR 1953. Whilst a case about the duty to give reasons in the decisions of planning inspectors, it appears to us to provide appropriate legal parameters for decisions in the FTT. Lord Brown’s observations were as follows:

“36.

The reasons for a decision must be intelligible and they must be adequate. They must enable the reader to understand why the matter was decided as it was and what conclusions were reached on the “principal controversial issues”, disclosing how any issue of law or fact was resolved. Reasons can be briefly stated, the degree of particularity required depending entirely on the nature of the issues falling for decision. The reasoning must not give rise to a substantial doubt as to whether the decision-maker erred in law, for example by misunderstanding some relevant policy or some other important matter or by failing to reach a rational decision on relevant grounds. But such adverse inference will not readily be drawn. The reasons need refer only to the main issues in dispute, not to every material consideration…Decision letters must be read in a straightforward manner, recognising that they are addressed to parties well aware of the issues involved and the arguments advanced. A reasons challenge will only succeed if the party aggrieved can satisfy the court that he has genuinely been substantially prejudiced by the failure to provide an adequately reasoned decision.”

These observations in the context of public law decision-making are consonant with the authorities in relation to the requirement for reasons in civil court judgments: see for instance Simetra Global Assets Limited v Ikon Finance Ltd & Others [2019] EWCA Civ 1413 at [39-47]. One of the key principles contained in these authorities is the need for the identification of ‘the principal controversial issues’ (or as Males LJ put it in [46] of Simetra Global Assets, ‘the building blocks’) engaged in the decision-making required for the particular case. That identification will lead to the kind of focussed and effective decision required, addressing those matters, and only those matters, which need to be decided and concentrating on the material bearing upon those issues. The procedural architecture in the FTT, including the PS under the reformed process, is specifically designed to enable these principal controversial issues to be identified and for the parties’ preparation, as well as the hearing to focus upon them.

We have appended to this decision some further principles which can be distilled from the authorities in relation to the giving of reasons as well as the subsequent scrutiny of reasons on appeal which will hopefully provide assistance in this context.