The Appeal

After You Have Made Your Appeal

• After you have appealed we will offer you an explanation of our decision if we have not already done this
• We will look at the decision again if we have not already done this
• If we agree that the original decision is wrong and the new decision is to your advantage, we will send you a new decision and your appeal will stop. If you do not agree with the new decision, you can appeal against it
• If we agree that the original decision is wrong but the new decision is not to your advantage we will send you a new decision. Your appeal will continue against the new decision. You will have another month to comment on the decision
• If we do not change the decision, we will send your appeal, and an explanation of the law and facts used to make the decision to the Appeals Service. We will also include any relevant papers
• A copy of the appeal papers will be issued to you and your representative, if you have one
• Read all the papers very carefully. If you do not understand something, ask us, an advice centre or a solicitor
• You will also receive a form. You must complete this form and send it to the Appeals Service within 14 days of the date the form was issued to you. If you do not, your appeal will stop
• The form also asks you questions about how you want your appeal to be looked at. You can choose between an oral hearing and a paper hearing. If you choose to go to an oral hearing you will be able to deal with any questions or issues that arise. People who go to their hearing usually do better than those who do not.

What the Tribunal looks at

• The Tribunal an only look at the evidence, the law and the circumstances at the time we made the decision you are appealing against
• The Tribunal cannot look at changes of circumstances that happened after we made the decision
• If a change of circumstances could affect your benefit or mean you could claim again, you should report it straight away. Do not wait for the appeal hearing. Contact us using the details shown on your decision letter.

Late Appeals

The Appeals Service may not be able to accept your appeal if it is received more than one month after the date of the decision letter.

They can only accept a late appeal if there are special reasons that caused the delay. These could include a death, a serious illness, absence abroad, a postal strike or some other special reason.

You should include an explanation of why you could not appeal within one month.

A legally qualified Tribunal member will look at the reasons you have given for not appealing in time and will decide if your appeal can be accepted. They will look at:

• Whether there was a special reason for the delay
• The length of time since you received the decision
• Whether it is in the interests of natural justice that your appeal is accepted
• Whether your appeal is reasonably likely to succeed.

The Appeals Service cannot accept a late appeal if the only reason is that you misunderstood the law, or interpretation of the law has changed since the decision was made.

Your appeal cannot be accepted if you appeal 13 months or more after the date on the decision letter.

Appeals Tribunal

• Tribunals are independent of the Council
• Tribunals are made up of a legally qualified chairperson
• Tribunal members will be experts on the issues involved in your appeal
• All Tribunals have a legally qualified member to help apply the law to your appeal
• Tribunals may also include someone with financial qualifications.

Oral Hearing

• This is an appeal that you can go to.
• The Tribunal may ask you questions
• You can ask questions
• You can take someone with you to represent you
• You can call witnesses to give evidence to the Tribunal;
• One of the Council's representatives may be at the hearing. They may ask questions and call witnesses
• If you choose an oral hearing and cannot go, you must let the Appeals Service know straight away You must have a good reason why you cannot go. You may be able to arrange another date. If you do not let the Appeals Service know you cannot go to the hearing, the Tribunal may hear your appeal without you
• Oral hearings are usually open to the public, but anyone who goes to the hearing will usually be involved in the appeal. You can ask for your hearing to be heard in private;arrange for the hearing to be: as near as possible to the place you arrive in Great Britain; as near as possible to your representative if you have one or delayed until you are in Great Britain.

Expenses

The Appeals Service may pay some of your expenses for going to the Tribunal, for example travel costs. If you want more information about expenses, contact the Appeals Service office handling your appeal.

If you live abroad you will have to pay your own expenses to and from the Great Britain. You may be able to get expenses while you are in Great Britain and the appeal hearing is going on.

Paper Hearing

This is an appeal hearing that you do not go to. If you go to an oral hearing you will be able to deal with questions or issues that arise.

You should use the from we will send you with the appeal papers to add any more information which you think will help your case.

Do not delay sending information, as you will not told the date of a paper hearing.

The appeal will be heard and the Appeals Service will send you a decision.

If the Tribunal think they need you to go to an oral hearing they can refuse your request for a paper hearing.

If you choose a paper hearing but change your mind, you can choose to have an oral hearing. Write to the Appeals Service straight away.

The Result

Whether you have an oral or paper hearing:

You will be given a decision notice explaining the Tribunal decision as soon as possible after the appeal hearing. A copy will be sent to the office that made the original decision.

You can also ask for a statement of reasons. This gives an explanation of the Tribunals decision including the facts and the law used. You must ask for a statement of reasons within one month of the date you are given or sent the decision notice. You must have a copy of the statement of reasons if you appeal to the Social Security Commissioners.

If you want a record of the appeal hearing, you can get a copy of the record of proceedings up to 6 months from the date of the hearing.

If your appeal is successful, we will usually revise the decision as soon as we receive our copy of the Tribunals decision. We may not be able to alter it straight away if we appeal to the Social Security Commissioners about the Tribunals decision.

Appeals to the Social Security Commissioners

Who can appeal to the Commissioners?

Appeals can be made by:

• Anyone who has already appealed to the Appeals Service
• The Local Authority
• The Department of Social Security.

Click here for the Appeals Service website.