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Right of appeal to First-tier Tribunal against late revision refusal
New decision CE/766/2016 and JR/3861/2016 holds that there is a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal from a decision not to extend time for revision -
‘It is DECLARED that on the proper construction of section 12 of the Social Security Act 1998 and the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999 (the 1999 Regulations) that a claimant, from whom the Secretary of State receives a revision application under Regulation 3ZA(2) of the 1999 Regulations, and to whom the Secretary of State responds by stating that the application is late and does not meet the criteria for extending time under the 1999 Regulations, has a statutory right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal against the decision of which revision had been sought.’
.... and CPAG’s press release on the case.
[ Edited: 4 Aug 2017 at 12:01 pm by Stuart ]Does this mean if DWP decides a recon has come in too late (without good cause) they will refuse to look at the recon request and it will go straight to appeal? I suppose there is no way of knowing until a recon request has been put in?
Does this mean if DWP decides a recon has come in too late (without good cause) they will refuse to look at the recon request and it will go straight to appeal? I suppose there is no way of knowing until a recon request has been put in?
it doesn’t mean DWP will automatically refuse to look at the request, but that if DWP refuse recon, then claimant puts appeal in to tribunal if claimant wants/is so advised.
A measure that was intended as a sneaky way to close off appeal rights has ended up making it easier to appeal than it was before! Love it.
Before: submit application for revision out of time, DWP declines to entertain it; or don’t do anything at all for longer than a month. Either way, you then try your luck with the Tribunal if you are still within 13 months of the original decision, but your appeal is out of time and there is no guarantee it will be admitted
After: submit MR out of time, DWP declines to entertain it; you now have a guaranteed one month in which to appeal to the Tribunal, and up to another 13 if you are lucky. Without needing to decide the issue, the UT speculates that this might even be the case if your MR was lodged more than 13 months after the decision, but that debate is for another day
Does this mean if DWP decides a recon has come in too late (without good cause) they will refuse to look at the recon request and it will go straight to appeal? I suppose there is no way of knowing until a recon request has been put in?
it doesn’t mean DWP will automatically refuse to look at the request, but that if DWP refuse recon, then claimant puts appeal in to tribunal if claimant wants/is so advised.
Thanks Claire
A measure that was intended as a sneaky way to close off appeal rights has ended up making it easier to appeal than it was before! Love it.
but they’ll be bound to try to close that down again if they can…. one would have thought :-(
I wonder if they’ve ever sat around and maybe considered just improving the quality of decision making!
I wonder if they’ve ever sat around and maybe considered just improving the quality of decision making!
They’d need to pay people more to do that and don’t forget that less than 3% of decisions are overturned on appeal so do they really need to? :-/
Hmm. Maybe they should start with seconding someone from the ONS!
New guidance for DM’s which confirms refusal of late MR request carries full appeal rights if request has been made within 13 months of original decision, and that FtT can consider substantive decision, not just whether late request should have been admitted.
Good news!!!
New guidance for DM’s which confirms refusal of late MR request carries full appeal rights if request has been made within 13 months of original decision, and that FtT can consider substantive decision, not just whether late request should have been admitted.
Good news!!!
Good to have clear guidance published soon after the decision - suggests they aren’t appealing too.
So we can expect a further tightening up on MR decisions or some kind of reduction in appeal rights to pop along soon then as an alternative.
I agree that the decision is very welcome, but it looks like it does not apply to tax credits and someone will need to bring a case against HMRC