Is there a right of appeal against a refusal to reinstate a withdrawn appeal?

This kind of situation has been a concern to us for a while. I would question whether there even is a valid withdrawal in this situation - Rule 17(1)(a) says the notice of withdrawal must be either given in writing to the tribunal, or made orally at a hearing - giving notice by phone to the respondent doesn’t appear to count.

It can be withdrawn over the phone if the requirement in the rules that it is by writing or at a hearing is waived (rule 7).

The power to waive the requirement that a withdrawal be in writing is the only judicial type decision which is delegated to clerks - see rule 4 and also the order of the Senior President attached below.

Given the decision to waive the requirement for written notice is delegated, I would hope a tribunal considering a request for reinstatement following a clerk taking such a decision (ie to allow withdrawal over phone) to want to be quite clear about what was actually said to the clerk and so on- did the clerk note whether the withdrawal request was qualified in any way etc etc.

Martin

(edited to change link)

Thanks Martin, interesting to know.

I possibly assumed too much from the initial post - it originally read it to mean that the appeal was withdrawn during the same phone call with the DWP, but a rereading shows it isn’t clear this was the case here. But if it was done during that same call, I would still question whether the words “where an appellant has stated an intention to withdraw the appeal” can be construed so widely that it would include statements made to parties other than the tribunal.

Apologies for not being clear about the way in which our client withdrew her appeal.  She did so by ticking the relevant box on the Tribunal Service Enquiry Form.  So this raises the issue of whether a tick in a box, followed by a signature constitutes “in writing”, although in the light of the information provided by Martin the point is academic.

We now plan a two-pronged approach:  a request for the decision declining to reinstate our client’s appeal to be looked at again by a Judge, and a request for leave to appeal the decision.

Grateful thanks to all contributors.

I am getting sick of this Jobcentre Plus stunt. Some of my clients are just rang and told “you have failed your medical, so you are going to have to claim JSA”. Nothing in writing. No mention of the ability to appeal in the first place. Nothing.
As we all know the decision must be made by the Tribunal service, not JC+, so is there any redress against Jobcentre plus on this practice. Who the hell are they to say “you wont win your appeal” ?