Supreme Court grants permission to appeal in “bedroom tax” remedies case

On 12^th February 2019 the Supreme Court granted permission to appeal in the case of RR (AP) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The case is effectively an appeal from the majority decision of the Court of Appeal in Carmichael v SSWP [2018] 3429 (CA), which had held that the statutory authorities (First Tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal) had no jurisdiction to grant Mr Carmichael a remedy and disapply the size criteria when calculating his benefit, even though the Supreme Court had earlier held in R (Carmichael) v SSWP [2016] 1 WLR 4550 (SC) that their application in his (and his wife’s) case breached their convention rights. Mr Carmichael did not appeal this remedy decision. The grant of permission in RR (AP) follows a “leapfrog” certificate granted by the Upper Tribunal. A substantial number of cases are stayed in the Upper Tribunal because they raise related issues. Richard Drabble QC and Matthew Fraser are acting for the Appellant, instructed by Leigh Day.