RM v Department for Communities (UC) (Employed earnings)

This is an application by the Department for Communities for leave to appeal from the decision of a tribunal with reference CN/8288/19/05/O.

For the reasons I give below, I grant leave to appeal. However, I disallow the Department's appeal.

The issue in this case is whether a tribunal erred in law by holding that information received from HMRC, regarding a payment received by a claimant in settlement of industrial tribunal proceedings, failed to reflect the definition of employed earnings in some material respect for the purposes of universal credit (UC).

The respondent and his wife had made a joint claim for UC to the Department for Communities (the Department) on 17 August 2018. On 17 December 2018 the Department decided that he was entitled to UC amounting to £0.00 as his earnings exceeded his entitlement to UC. This was on the basis that he had received earnings of £5,228.42 in the assessment period from 17 November 2018 to 16 December 2018.

The respondent requested a reconsideration, submitting that a compensation payment relating to a previous period of employment had been taken into account when calculating his income for UC purposes. On 3 October 2019 the decision was reconsidered by the Department but not revised. The respondent appealed. The appeal was considered by a tribunal consisting of a legally qualified member (LQM) sitting alone. The tribunal found that the compensation payment failed to reflect the definition of employed earnings in some material respect and allowed the respondent's appeal.