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

This matter concerned an application by Mr Soliman (the Applicant) for a disability support pension, following receipt of a lump sum compensation payment. The Secretary of the Department of Social Services (the Respondent) had determined that the Applicant was precluded from receiving the pension for a specific period due to this compensation payment. The Applicant sought review of this decision before the Tribunal.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the Applicant was precluded from receiving the disability support pension due to the lump sum compensation payment and, if so, the length of that preclusion period. Specifically, the Tribunal had to consider whether the income cut-out amount for the purposes of determining the preclusion period should be calculated at the date the final compensation payment was received. Furthermore, the Tribunal had to assess whether special circumstances existed that would warrant the exercise of discretion under section 1184K of the relevant Act to treat the whole or part of the lump sum compensation amount as not having been made or not liable to be made. The Applicant argued that special circumstances arose from his need to pay for private health insurance and his children’s school fees, which would otherwise lead to financial hardship.

The Tribunal found that the circumstances relied upon by the Applicant, whether considered individually or collectively, did not meet the threshold of ‘special circumstances’ as required by the Act. Consequently, the Tribunal was not satisfied that there was a sufficient reason to exercise the discretion provided by section 1184K to reduce the length of the lump sum preclusion period. The Tribunal varied the decision under review to set the preclusion period from 9 April 2015 to 23 October 2019, with the decision otherwise remaining unchanged.