Dik and Secretary, Department of Social Services (Social services second review)

This matter concerned an appeal by Ms Dik against a decision of the Department of Social Services (the Department) concerning the percentage of care she had for her two children. Ms Dik contended that the 50% care percentage previously determined was inaccurate from February 2013 onwards and sought to have it increased and backdated. The Department was represented by Mr Morris, while Ms Dik and Mr Dewar, who was joined to the proceedings, represented themselves.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Ms Dik had demonstrated that she had greater than 50% care of her children for the period between February 2013 and August 2016. This required the Tribunal to assess the evidence presented by Ms Dik, particularly her claim of maintaining contemporaneous records of the children's care arrangements.

The Tribunal considered the history of the care arrangements, noting a previous decision by the Social Security Appeals Tribunal in January 2013 which established a 50-50 care split from November 2012, agreed by the parties. Ms Dik had not sought to vary this arrangement until August 2016, despite her assertion that the care percentages had changed from February 2013. The Tribunal found that Ms Dik had not adequately explained this delay. Furthermore, the Tribunal examined Ms Dik's diary entries, which she claimed were maintained daily to record when the children were in Mr Dewar's overnight care. Upon examination, the Tribunal observed that in the 2013 diary, a consistent coloured ink was used to circle dates across several months, with only a few dates in August marked with a lighter ink, raising questions about the contemporaneous nature of these entries.

The Tribunal decided not to alter the existing 50% care percentage decision.