I wondered if others have been experiencing this problem - me and my colleague have had to adjourn our last few appeals (or about to adjourn) as neither ourselves or our clients have been sent the appeal papers in times for the hearings. The problem appears to be with Glasgow BPC and Cardiff DBU. While the Disability Benefit Unit have been helpful and eventually issued the papers, Glasgow less so as they wont put you through to the appeal section and the staff on the phone lines don't appear to understand what we are asking for!

I've not experienced this problem specifically, but we have had some strange refusals of postponement requests made to TTS. So much so that in suspicion of a blanket policy we've made a FOI request for any info that might shed some light...

I had an ESA appeal on Monday and it ended up being postponed because the tribunal members did not have a complete bundle. I have also had another ESA appeal when I did not receive the papers or the date of the hearing and the tribunal judge when postponing accused me of not telling the truth! My problems lie with Birmingham TS.

My FOI request has been refused...

TAS say that Judicial guidance is not their remit and that the judicial guidance is not covered by FoIA. I need to check this, but for now at least, it looks as though we'll be none the wiser whilst we watch TTS fall down the abyss. It's a shame really because when I became a welf they were already in the abyss. Since then, they've dragged themselves out of it and now, thanks to the Leggatt review (is that the right one...?), they've fallen right back into it!!

Still, I suppose that will help to keep all of us in our (mostly) publicly funded jobs.

Ihave had this problem with Newcastle and with Sutton. It seems that they are leaving it to the respondents to provide apellants with the bundle.

I asked fro a postponement with a Sutton case I dealt with recently. The postponement was refused by I got the submsssion with the refusal. I won the case on the day not least because the secretary of state's submission was such a mess.

I managed to get the submssiion for the Newcastle one direct from the DWP. There is still a month to go before the hearing and so I have had time to file a futher submssion for my client

The question of who provides the subs was raised at the last birmingham Tribunal user Group.

The Procedure Rules, where a rep has been nomonated, leave it to the rep to circulate papers to the respondent. We managed to negotiate it back within Birmingham but it's still open to TS to require the respondents and the reps to do a lot more of the leg work than we're used to.

As to the OP, there have been problems up here with the Disability Benefits centre failing to circulate submissions; with TS handing out enquiry forms people have turned up to a couple of sessions thinking all was hunky dory to discover they've misse dout on their copy of the submission.

As to postponements; we have had problems with certain somewhat irrational duty judges and where decisions are plainly irrational I'd recommend a letter to the Regional Judge as it is a problem she's aware of.