IA010102015

The appellant in this matter is the Secretary of State and I shall refer to the parties as the "Secretary of State" and to the appellant in the First-tier Tribunal as "the Claimant".

The Secretary of State appeals against a decision made by the First-tier Tribunal ("FTT")(Judge Clarke) who in a decision promulgated on 24 th January 2016 allowed the Claimant's appeal outright under Regulation 8(5) Immigration(EEA Regulations) 2006 ("EEA Regs."), having found that the parties were in a durable relationship.

The grounds of application for permission argued that the appeal ought not to have been allowed outright as the Secretary of State had not exercised her discretion under Regulation 17(4) EEA Regs. Permission to appeal was granted on the issues raised in the grounds.

The matter came before me as an error of law hearing. Both representatives had reached a preliminary agreement as to how the matter should proceed. It was accepted by both representatives that there was an error in law by the FTT in allowing the appeal outright. The matter should be remitted to the Secretary of State for her to exercise her discretion under Regulation 17(4).

I find that there was a material error of law in the decision made by the FTT who allowed the appeal outright and such a decision was not in accordance with the law. It was not open to the FTT to exercise the Secretary of State's discretion under Regulation 17(4) of the EEA Regs. The findings as to the durable relationship are not disputed and shall stand.