RP v RP v Secretary of State (SPC) (Income support and state pension credit : other: state pension credit)

Decision: � My decision is that the decision of the First-tier Tribunal involved the making of an error on a point of law. I set aside the tribunal�s decision and remit the case for hearing before a differently constituted tribunal.

The date of 29 July 2004 was chosen as the date for the commencement of the overpayment recoverability period because that was the earliest date for which the DWP had records, but the tribunal held that the period should begin on 20 October 2006 because that was the date on which the claimant was provided with details of the income used to calculate his entitlement to pension credit following his award of state retirement pension.� In a very thorough and careful statement of reasons, the tribunal judge recorded a finding that:

��on the balance of probabilities [the claimant] did phone someone within the Respondent to notify them that he was in receipt of (or about to be in receipt) of his occupational pensions prior to 29 July 2004.� I also find that such phone call was a timely disclosure.� However, it is not clear which office of the Respondent he phoned or who he spoke to.�

Having evaluated the evidence, the statement of reasons elaborates on that finding as follows:

After noting that the claimant did not notify the DWP of increases to his occupational pension, the tribunal judge made a further finding that: