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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Decision making and appeals  →  Thread

emailed appeals

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Dan Manville
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Greater Manchester Law Centre

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Rainy day, dream away, let the sun take a holiday.

Yes… I’m wondering whether I dreamt it again; sadly there’s no mermaid involved.

I recall, somewhere, seeing a missive from HMCTS saying that, in exceptional circumstances, they might accept an appeal by email.

Now I’ve a case that I’d like to make the appeal for on the day of the long stop deadline; we are getting mucked about by the respondent and I’d like to give them as much time as possible to come to their senses. Hopefully recent Pre Action Correspondence might be persuasive but I’m yet to tell and I’m brooding on further courses of action.

Such an appeal would lend itself to an emailed application; if such a thing might be entertained.

Thoughts?

Paul Stockton
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Am I missing something here? Why not just lodge the appeal online in the usual way?

Helen Rogers
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Welfare rights officer - Stockport MBC

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A CPAG course I went on recommended ringing HMCTS to ask for an email address, so you can be sure it’s going to get picked up.

Andyp5 Citizens Advice Bridport & District
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Dan Manville - 14 January 2021 03:55 PM

Rainy day, dream away, let the sun take a holiday.

Yes… I’m wondering whether I dreamt it again; sadly there’s no mermaid involved.

I recall, somewhere, seeing a missive from HMCTS saying that, in exceptional circumstances, they might accept an appeal by email.

Now I’ve a case that I’d like to make the appeal for on the day of the long stop deadline; we are getting mucked about by the respondent and I’d like to give them as much time as possible to come to their senses. Hopefully recent Pre Action Correspondence might be persuasive but I’m yet to tell and I’m brooding on further courses of action.

Such an appeal would lend itself to an emailed application; if such a thing might be entertained.

Thoughts?

Just in case this has any relevance whatsoever…...............

Before the online facility for lodging UC appeals.

Confronted with the horrors of UC refusing MR applications on the journal with a terse sentence or two, but steadfastly refusing to produce a MR letter.

Bypassed the horrors, completed paper appeal forms with client’s and then scanned and emailed to HMCTS with arguments/explanations. HMCTS then subsequently issued directions to UC (respondent). Much to our collective relief none of them were rejected by HMCTS e.g. backdating, carers element run on, closing established claim on the basis that client was perceived to have not accepted claimant commitment, date of claim etc.

 

MM1239
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Advisory Team, Money Matters, Glasgow

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E-mailing has been working fine in Scotland.  Just saying.

Dan Manville
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Greater Manchester Law Centre

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Paus17 - 14 January 2021 04:05 PM

Am I missing something here? Why not just lodge the appeal online in the usual way?

Because it’s not an appeal one can lodge online.

norrp
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Citizens Advice Pembrokeshire

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Hi I don’t know if this has come up before but in relation to e-mailed appeals. I have a client that we appealed a UC decision (refusal of the housing element - close relative issue) successfully but when I came to do a separate appeal on the overpayment related to the housing element, HMCTS website could not accept the second appeal because both MRNs had the same date. I posted a SSCS1 appeal form for the overpaymentdecision with the MRN and a covering letter to explain what had happened. Worried that I hadn’t received an acknowledgement of the written (overpayment) appeal I phoned HMCTS. Miraculously, they had joined up the two related appeals! They are aware of the glitch apparently but no further info on when it will be sorted.

Mike Hughes
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I’ve a recent case where I was effectively told off for not using the Bradford email address to lodge.

Wholly unrelated but I have one at the moment where HMCTS have wrongly linked my MR on a second DLA claim (first done by claimant prior to my involvement) to the first claim and, because it turned out that claim had already had an MR, decided to treat my MR as an appeal. The fact it would be way out of time has evaded them completely. About to point this out as part of a postponement request as they’ve also taken to ignoring my very well documented missives on availability in general. In this specific case of course I wasn’t even asked as they just randomly took the late MR and attached

Peter Turville
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Mike Hughes - 05 February 2021 09:59 AM

Wholly unrelated but I have one at the moment where HMCTS have wrongly linked my MR on a second DLA claim (first done by claimant prior to my involvement) to the first claim and, because it turned out that claim had already had an MR, decided to treat my MR as an appeal. The fact it would be way out of time has evaded them completely. About to point this out as part of a postponement request as they’ve also taken to ignoring my very well documented missives on availability in general. In this specific case of course I wasn’t even asked as they just randomly took the late MR and attached

This sort of basic admin error seems to be an ever growing issue. For example.

first claim for PIP under appeal. client makes 2nd claim which is allowed HRx2. submission to HMCTS on 1st claim appeal inc copy of decision on 2nd claim. HMCTS caseworkers direction lapsing appeal because DWP has revised the decision under appeal. Now trying to get the appeal re-instated.

HB decision appealed. For unknown reason HMCTS register the appeal twice with different ref no. (we later discover). There are directions notices, additional and submissions by both parties etc. This is allocated at random by HMCTS to either file but only that allocated under one of the refs is issued to the parties = big gaps in the pagination = we realise there is a problem. Trying to get HMCTS to understand, identify and rectify the error a nightmare.

Dealing with HMCTS’s administration takes more time than preparing appeals & submissions!

Mike Hughes
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Very true Peter.

Increasingly having issues with there being no backlog of cases. Being listed minus appeal papers; minus huge wodges of appeal papers; listed for days they know I’m not available.

Peter Turville
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Mike Hughes - 05 February 2021 12:18 PM

Very true Peter.

Increasingly having issues with there being no backlog of cases. Being listed minus appeal papers; minus huge wodges of appeal papers; listed for days they know I’m not available.

Mike
WOW. Lucky you!? At least we haven’t come up against the no backlog issue yet!! All the rest we could play Top Trumps with.

Mike Hughes
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It appears HMCTS locally simply cannot grasp the concept of no backlog and are busy inventing new ways to maladministrate appeals.

Peter Turville
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No backlog with minutes rather than months (years) to prepare for a hearing might come as a shock to our collective system here! The very thought makes me want to lie down in a darkened room.  In 30+ years I can’t remember a time when there were no backlogs (even when the Tribunal Service was a model of a good public service) - even when the number of appeals dropped through the floor following the introduction of MR HMCTS cut staff massively to ensure they maintained a suitable backlog!

Mike Hughes
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Sigh. Have just realised on the case I described above that not only have HMCTS allowed the MR on the 2nd claim to be treated as a late appeal against the 1st claim but… DWP have excelled themselves in treating the MR on claim 2 as a late appeal on the 1st claim AND have used the same document to do an MR on the 2nd claim as requested. I am now scrambling to get that letter off the client and get another appeal in.

If I’d know one document could serve multiple purposes this is a tactic I’d have started using years ago.

“I know it’s only an MR but I want you to treat it as an appeal against x, y and z”.

Dan Manville
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Mike Hughes - 05 February 2021 09:59 AM

I’ve a recent case where I was effectively told off for not using the Bradford email address to lodge.

ooooohhh… have you got the Bradford email address? Would you share it?

That said; the no backlog issue is a pain where you’ve got to allocate a case to a student who’s only promised you 4 hours a week of their time.

Paul Stockton
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Dan Manville - 09 February 2021 03:27 PM
Mike Hughes - 05 February 2021 09:59 AM

I’ve a recent case where I was effectively told off for not using the Bradford email address to lodge.

ooooohhh… have you got the Bradford email address? Would you share it?
That said; the no backlog issue is a pain where you’ve got to allocate a case to a student who’s only promised you 4 hours a week of their time.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) but when they sent us notification of a hearing date they asked us to use .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  for further evidence