I'm not sure whether there is a challenge to an interview under caution. My client was interviewed in June this year. HB were not satisfied that her daughter was not living at her address. client explained that father had custody for 9 years and she lived with him. I think the father had an itinerent lifestyle and adult daughter did not claim HB but he supplied a letter stating that she lived with him. HB were not satisfied. They also did not visit the address to ascertain the living arrangements. My client also did not have any legal representation at the time,and she struggles to understand letters. Daughter is now living elsewhere and has proved this, but client is eft with an overpayment of over £10,000. Does anyone think she has a possible chance of challenging? I was thinking that any letter form HB would have said that she needs to get advice, even if she had difficulty in understanding.

surely the challenge is to the decision that resulted in the o/p, that is, the decision disallowing HB and the consequential decision that there was an overpayment. appeal those, and have the tribunal decide where the daughter was living...

To add to Claire's post...

If the appeal time limit has expired, it may be possible to reopen the right of appeal.

Has a statement of reasons been provided? If not, get the clmt to sign a request for one. For HB/CTB, there is no legal time limit for requesting a SoR and, if one is requested, it must be provided.

Under Schedule 1 of the First-tier Tribunal Procedure Rules, there is an automatic right of appeal upto 14 days after a SoR has been issued - even if the original time limits have long since expired.

The above route saves messing around with complaints and appeals that would otherwise be late and not guaranteed to be admitted.