I have recently taken a case to appeal on the grounds of official error on behalf of the LA (which is not in dispute). Their argument and that of the Chair is that re: Regs 99 (2) and 84 (3) that the client was aware of the error at the time of the notice relating to the payment so is therefore liable for the recovery. My argument is that my client could not possibly have known (at the time of payment) that he was being overpaid as the notification was not issued to him until 18 weeks and 3 days after the award was made. I want to take this back to the TAS, has anyone got any thoughts on the grounds for getting this overturned.

The Commisioner said at para 6 of R(H)1/02:

"No doubt some limitation must be placed on the word “any” in the phrase “any notice relating to that payment” so that a notice which is not sufficiently closely related to receipt of the payment must be disregarded for this purpose."

CH/2554/2002 outlines what can be expected regarding the claimants knowledge and may help.