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DWP ‘offers to settle’
For advisers acting in cases where the claimant has not accepted a proposed revision but has elected for their appeal to continue then ..... Effectively the FTT should treat the offered decision as a starting point and FTT will need to consider whether to give warning and possibly adjournment if it starts to think that the claimant should have less than was offered.
In such a circumstance is there actually any record of the ‘offer’ if it has only been discussed on the phone.?
Yes there should be- BPM Para 14 (August 2020 version) provides a record must be kept.
Additionally the ADM says the submission to the FTT should argue that the revised decision is the correct one (para A5162).
Hopefully things will now settle in a fairly sensible position. It seems to me that involving the claimant in the question of whether or not their appeal lapses is desirable, provided that the issues are presented fairly and clearly.
I think the DWP need to reflect on how this whole episode has been dealt with. It ought to be clear from these cases that the making of an ‘offer’ is not intended as some sort of tactical (or ‘transactional’ as Judge Wright put it) device but represents the DWP making concessions to the claimant’s position. It should not be controversial. Somehow the popular perception has become that DWP officers are running around offering to buy off benefit claimants for a few quid for nefarious reasons. By all accounts, this perception has been largely driven by poor conduct of DWP officials. This should not have been allowed to happen.
I think that the DO case is helpful insofar as it reminds tribunals that where a party has made a concession, it is not generally required to look behind that concession. It is one of those points which seems obvious when written down in those terms, but which Tribunals so frequently forget, so to have the reminder there will help.
I still think that there is a case for legislative change insofar as this whole episode raises the issue of whether the concept of appeals automatically and unavoidably lapsing after any favourable revision is really conducive to effective resolution of disputes.
In such a circumstance is there actually any record of the ‘offer’ if it has only been discussed on the phone.?
The DWP are supposed to record it in the appeal papers and the PO (if there is one) ought to repeat the concessions at the hearing.
[ Edited: 14 Jul 2021 at 08:12 pm by Elliot Kent ]I’m still waiting for the day when DWP post an additional sub which mentions that an offer was made and what the outcome was. Fed up of having to spell that out to tribunals.
Thanks for replies to my question.
Well I’ve had another 3 lapsed appeals this week and I have had no contact from the DWP. One client received contact advising that it would be ER for both components, the other two, similar to me, received no contact but just the HMCTS automated email advising that the appeal has lapsed!!
I did get one call from the DWP about another client asking if I had further evidence for the appeal, to which the answer was no, and promptly received the appeal bundle!
Just wanted to say that good practice does exist.
Have today had conversation with DWP official who contacted me about an appeal lodged by a client with me as representative. Explained his thinking and proposal, encouraged me to speak to client and reminded me that the revised decision carried appeal rights.
Hi all
Public Law Project are following up on the case we and others were involved with last year on DWP offers to settle / lapsed appeals: https://publiclawproject.org.uk/latest/dwp-to-stop-cold-calling-disabled-people-to-make-low-benefit-offers/
This challenge led to DWP adopting new guidance advising DWP decision makers to:
+ Only lapse appeals if the offer is at least as generous as that being claimed by the claimant
+ Make clear that claimants accepting a revised offer would still have the right to appeal that decision
+ Contact the Claimant’s representative in the first instance
We’re concerned that DWP may not be applying this new guidance consistently.
Is this something people have come across? I.e. instances of DWP making less generous offers, neglecting to mention the right of appeal or failing to contact the claimant’s rep?
We have a short survey here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAZ__p98kiNUQ1lPMVVVM0UyT0ZMS09UWVhOQllGRktCUy4u
- or grateful for any feedback by way of the discussion thread.
Thanks
Caroline
Caroline.
My last two, the DWP have made the offers to the claimant without reference to myself as representative and, as far a I am aware, no attempt to contact me.
As a result of the above I can’t speak to whether or not the claimant was advised of right to start a new appeal if the offer is accepted.
On the first point, the offers were less than being asked for. I don’t have a problem with that because we don’t always get what we ask for at appeal either.
I have responded to the survey and your message Caroline.
Written answer yesterday says ‘no issues have been identified’ in relation to compliance with the Best Practice Memorandum…
Oh well, if they haven’t identified any issues that’s obviously all right then!
Wonder how that explains the complaint I currently have in?