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HMCTS - problems with (new) outgoing post provider = hearings adjourned
Is this a national problem?
Apparently HMCTS have changed their outgoing post provider. This is causing significant delay in notification of hearings.
We received today notification of hearings (notices dated 3/11 & 6/11) for hearings today and Thursday. Clients have also received their notification today. Todays hearing therefore had to be adjourned. Clearly 2 days not acceptable for Thursdays cases!
It now has to be said that HMCTS are now worse than DWP or HMRC!
Really don’t want to tempt fate, but so far not been an issue for us, regarding hearing dates.
Yes, has been a problem here as well. Not as close as 2 or 3 days (although I haven’t received notification for a hearing next Tuesday yet - client received letter dated 9th November on 20th November
I’ve received three letters today dated 8th November. Fortunately, they’re for lapsed appeals and not hearing dates.
25 days to deliver a letter? Are they using snails?
It would be quicker, (and probably cheaper)for the clerks to hand-deliver mail!
Can’t say I’ve noticed this specifically so far. However, I have noticed a significant downturn in competence locally in terms of the compilation and distribution of appeal papers including a general inability to do anything with incoming post except add it to appeal papers. Had complaints, request for directions and all manner of correspondence just added to appeal papers but not actually actioned as per the contents.
Not had anything as close as two days yet.
But what has become an issue (and unfortunately, this is something which the UT is not immune to) is HMC&TS; post being sent by 2nd class post. This can have a significant effect where directions notices are being sent out with a one month deadline for response - it’s not at all uncommon for 8 - 10 days of your response time to be lost as a result.
Colleague has told me this has impacted on him. Also been told it’s been sorted but pinch of salt with that until there’s hard evidence of sufficient notice being given again I guess.
We received one HMCTS letter advising that a FTT paper hearing had been set aside on our application.
Unfortunately the letter took over a month to arrive, by which time a further paper hearing had taken place without our knowledge.
I hope the savings they’re making on the post provider outweigh the additional costs incurred with adjournments and set asides.
this has been doing my head in recently. we have ended up finding out about appeals with less than 14 days notice (we have a team of 2 doing appeals and mainly do Glasgow but also Hamilton and occasionally Edinburgh and fife) so this is not ideal.
thankfully we have covered them so far to get It done for clients but not very sustainable.
Can’t say I’ve noticed this specifically so far. However, I have noticed a significant downturn in competence locally in terms of the compilation and distribution of appeal papers including a general inability to do anything with incoming post except add it to appeal papers. Had complaints, request for directions and all manner of correspondence just added to appeal papers but not actually actioned as per the contents.
Yep; email with “Direction request” in the subject bar was added to the bundle. The excuse from the ASC was “you didn’t tell us it needed to be considered by a Judge”...
Memories of cover letters with “Direction Request” in 72 point print come flooding back.
Given that I’ve been having great fun with requests for large print appeal papers 72 point appeals to my sense of humour.
I have been toying with “This is not for you. Give it to a judge!” in very large print.
I reckon there’s a 50/50 chance such a document would appear in a bundle and the matter at hand would not make it to a judge until the day of the hearing.
I had two tribunals listed for this morning, 30/11/17. In each case I had received notification dated 27th October on 31st October, but neither client received their copy of the letter (also dated 27th October) until Monday 27th November.
One case had to be postponed as the client was unable to arrange transport at short notice.
Can’t say I’ve noticed this specifically so far. However, I have noticed a significant downturn in competence locally in terms of the compilation and distribution of appeal papers including a general inability to do anything with incoming post except add it to appeal papers. Had complaints, request for directions and all manner of correspondence just added to appeal papers but not actually actioned as per the contents.
Yep; email with “Direction request” in the subject bar was added to the bundle. The excuse from the ASC was “you didn’t tell us it needed to be considered by a Judge”...
Memories of cover letters with “Direction Request” in 72 point print come flooding back.
A couple of months back got instructed in a tax credits appeal which HMRC argued had lapsed due to its post-appeal section 18 decision and following LS and RS v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (TC): [2017] UKUT 257 (AAC) - this set out in their response to the appeal. The Revenue was, unfortunately, correct (I have subsequently managed to resolve the substantive issue with a fresh but late MR and threat of JR if time wasn’t extended to admit it).
1. 22/9/2017 letter and email to HMC&TS; notifying we are reps and setting out why we agreed with the Revenue that the appeal had lapsed. Big bold letters ‘Directions request - for the attention of a judge’. No response.
2. 29/9/2017 client receives listing notice for 16/10/2017 - we get nothing.
3. I give HMC&TS; the benefit of the doubt (correspondence may have crossed in the post) but by 6/10/2017 when I’ve still heard nothing I re-send the 22/9/2017 asking for an urgent direction. No response.
4. I’m employed part-time Wednesday to Friday. The appeal is listed for a Monday - if there was anything of substance to the appeal I’d have either asked for a re-listing at the outset or tried to reschedule my work to allow me to rep in person. By Friday 13/10/2017 I’ve still heard nothing. It’s almost certain that nothing I’ve sent earlier is going to be in the papers that are before the judge on Monday. So I have to do an actual submission, setting out the earlier correspondence and email this directly to the venue - fortunately, it’s a venue that has this facility.
5. My sub also says that I work part-time, that therefore I cannot attend the hearing, but that although the appellant has been fully advised regarding the inevitability of the appeal being struck out, she will attend.
The result? A strike out decision - but with a snide dig at me for not attending.
Attended hearings today - including some of those mentioned in my original post. Return to office. Duplicate notification of todays hearing (with same issue date) had arrived in todays post!
Maybe ASC Birmingham is particularly bad at the moment - but we experience all of the other issues mentioned - failing to place clearly marked applications for Directions before a judge (just attaching to bundle, failure to issue Directions then made to all parties or ignored completely), failure to copy submissions and other evidence sent weeks / months in adviance to the bundle (or only after the tribunal has been heard!). Anything post hearing / adjournment seems beyond their capability to get right.
Lost count of the number of complaints we have made about basic administartive errors in the past 12 months.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to do our job effectively (sigh)!
This is theoretically one for liaison/TUGs but in reality we haven’t had anything actually change as a consequence of a TUG in years. I honestly don’t know why they bother other than to tick a box. Last time out I wasn’t even convinced one judge understood a number of questions.
I now have a nice collection of letters from both DWP and HMCTS telling me how they can’t possibly do large print papers because they have neither the funding nor the facilities, followed rapidly by large print subs from DWP and more recently by a fully transcribed set of actual large print appeal papers on yellow legal paper and bound to boot.
I’ve one case on which I have requested directions 3 times now. Each time they’ve been added to the bundle. So, I lodged a complaint. Sure enough it’s not been actioned but, yes, it’s been added to the bundle. Take your pick. Literacy issue? Person spec. issue?
The left hand doesn’t currently understand the concept of a hand let alone that there’s a right one!