Full Service appeals - authorisation and MRN only exist electronically

Andrew Dutton - 26 September 2017 03:19 PM

I’ve just sent in a backdating appeal (side question - how is ‘disabled’ going to end up being construed under the UC backdating rules???)

Claimant has put authorisation for us to act on to the UC journal - but I have nothing to send to HMCTS.

MRN was sent to the claimant electronically- I have no access to this, UC say they can’t provide a copy, I have nothing to send to HMCTS.

Does anyone know how HMCTS is managing this sort of thing?

 

 

We don’t have a full service until December, so pretty ignorant on UC, hence assiduously following people’s posts on UC and looking at other stuff.

but see attached what looks like internal DWP training albeit dated Oct 2012 page 3 notifying a decision and recent PCS stuff re DMA’s

The MRN is sent as a PDF so we just print it out and then you can proceed as normal - if the SSCS1 names you as rep and is signed by the claimant then you have authority on the appeal.

I suppose it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for face to face services - but:

As we are county-wide and largely a phone-based service we do not usually see clients and do not sit with them in front of a computer so there is no opportunity to print things out. They are not with us to sign the SSCS1s - in many cases it is better to send the forms straight out with client’s authorisation, especially where time is short.

Previously it was easy - DWP had to copy us in to the MRN and we held written Authorisation from the client. Now we have neither.

I now see the logic behind “explicit consent”. Having decimated the face-to-face provision of advice through cuts to legal aid and LA funding, it’s designed to severely hamper the telephone/online advice sector’s ability to challenge DWP.