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(Not) charging for benefit appeals
In new govt consultation on tribunal and court fees, it says -
‘The Government believes that it is right that those who use the tribunals should make a contribution to the costs of providing the service. After the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and the Employment Tribunals the chamber with the next largest caseload is the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal.
In view of the nature of the disputes brought before this Chamber, we consider it likely that a majority of applicants would qualify for a fee remission. For this reason, we do not believe that introducing fees in this chamber would meet our objectives of requiring the user to contribute to the costs, and reduce the cost to the taxpayer. Nor do we believe that it would be cost effective. ‘
That’s heartening. Indeed, the overwhelming majority of appellants I see would indeed qualify for fee remission, so it saves completion of another piece of paperwork.
Just been alerted that elsewhere in the consultation there’s a proposal to start charging for (more) appeals in the General Regulatory Chamber, including appeals in relation to FOI stuff ...
... proposal is to charge a fee of £100 to issue proceedings, which would entitle the claimant to a decision based on a review of the papers, and to charge a further fee of £500 if the claimant elects for an oral hearing
See para 124-127 @
Further reading on this @ http://www.panopticonblog.com/2015/07/24/circle-the-wagons-they-are-coming-for-the-information-tribunal/
[ Edited: 27 Jul 2015 at 11:53 am by shawn mach ]Personally I would read “not charging for social security appeals” as “won’t matter as social security appeals as we know them won’t exist within the next 2 years”.