Claimant autonomy and the state pension

02/07/25

As with most social security benefits, entitlement to state pension depends on making a claim for it. Where a person claims state pension after attaining pensionable age, their entitlement to the pension may begin (i) up to a year before the date on which the claim is made, or (ii) up to four months after the claim is made. The longer entitlement to state pension is deferred, the higher the level of the pension. Where entitlement begins on a day before that on which pension is claimed, the claimant is paid arrears of pension for the period ending with the date of claim.

Those claiming state pension after attaining pensionable age are asked by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions the date from which they wish to get their state pension. A claimant in answering that question may enter the wrong date. For example, if a claim is made shortly before a claimant’s 67th birthday, the claimant may indicate to the Secretary of State in the claim form that they wish to claim from their 67th birthday, whereas in fact they intended to claim from their 66th birthday. The issue in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v DS  was whether a mistake of this type could be corrected after the Secretary of State had made an award of pension on the basis of the information communicated to her in the claim form.

In a decision published yesterday, the Upper Tribunal held, allowing an appeal by the Secretary of State, that the legislative scheme did not permit a mistake of this type to be corrected after an award of pension had been made. It held that claimant autonomy, in the sense of choosing when entitlement to state pension begins, was a key feature of the statutory scheme, and the Secretary of State’s function was limited to giving effect to the choice communicated to her by claimants, which could not be altered after an award of pension had been made. In so holding, the Upper Tribunal distinguished the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Miah [2024] 1 WLR 3012, in which it was held that entitlement to universal credit could be “backdated” after an award had been made on the claim. The Tribunal further held that the Secretary of State’s investigative obligation, before making an award of state pension, was limited to asking claimants the date from which they wished to get state pension, and no further investigation of the claim was required if an unambiguous answer was given to that question.

The decision of the Upper Tribunal ([2025] UKUT 168 (AAC)) can be read here.