MRAssociates — Glossary

This is the date on which a local authority or the Department for Work and Pensions makes a decision about a benefit claim. If the claimant disagrees with the decision and appeals to a Tribunal, the Tribunal can only take into account circumstances that already existed on the date of the decision: the Tribunal cannot take account of any more recent changes of circumstance. Benefit decision makers often refer to this as circumstances “down to” the date of the decision.