UA-2024-001437-CIC
R (on the application of KM)
(Anonymity Order made)
Applicant
-and-
FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL (SOCIAL ENTITLEMENT CHAMBER)
(CRIMINAL INJURIES COMPENSATION)
Respondent
-and-
CRIMINAL INJURIES COMPENSATION AUTHORITY
Interested Party
DECISION OF THE UPPER TRIBUNAL
Michelle Brewer
Upper Tribunal Judge
Before: Upper Tribunal Judge Brewer
RULE 14 Order: Pursuant to rule 14(1) of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008 read with the Sexual Offences (Amendment Act) 1992, section 1, the Upper Tribunal prohibits the disclosure or publication of KM’s name or any matter likely to lead members of the public to identify KM.
DECISION
I grant the application for judicial review of the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) (Social Entitlement Chamber) dated 27 June 2024 under reference C1019/23/00020.
The Upper Tribunal makes the following Order:
the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) (Criminal Injuries Compensation) dated 27 June 2024 is QUASHED; and
the appeal brought against the review decision of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority dated 30 June 2021 to the First-tier Tribunal is REMITTED.
the members of the First-tier Tribunal who decide the remitted appeal should not be the same as those who made the decision which has been quashed.
As agreed by KM and the Interested Party, KM shall be permitted to obtain medical evidence for a re-hearing of the appeal before the First-tier Tribunal.
REASONS FOR DECISION
This application is unopposed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (“CICA”), it having been served with my grant of permission to bring judicial review proceedings on 17 February 2025. As such I can set out the reasons for my decision shortly.
I am satisfied that the decision of the First-tier Tribunal should be quashed on the grounds of procedural unfairness. Following my permission decision and the Interested Party’s detailed written submissions, both the Interested Party and KM agreed by consent that the First-tier Tribunal’s decision was procedurally flawed.
This conclusion is based on the following factors, which affected KM, a vulnerable litigant in person who was assisted only by his mother, herself also vulnerable:
KM was served with CICA’s skeleton argument at the appeal hearing on 20 June 2024 and was given only limited time during the hearing to consider it.
KM saw the psychiatric report for the first time at the appeal hearing and was afforded only limited time to review it.
The First-tier Tribunal relied on ‘specialist medical knowledge’ in its reasoning without giving KM prior notice or raising the matter with him during the hearing.
Accordingly, the First-tier Tribunal’s decision of 27 June 2024 dismissing KM’s appeal is quashed.
Michelle Brewer
Judge of the Upper Tribunal
Authorised for issue 11 August 2025