PIP appeal success!

Sarah wrote: What is the likelihood of the DWP contesting my appeal? Kind of defeats the object of having an appeal if the DWP can then contest the decision!

I don't think I have seen any statistics about how often the DWP make an Appeal to the Upper Tribunal (UTT).

They have the same appeal rights as the claimant in regard to a First Tier Tribunal (FTT), to be clear they cannot make an appeal because they do not like the Decision, they (and the claimant) can only appeal to the UTT because they believe there has been an Error of Law in the proceedings of the FTT.

There are limits to the time in which the DWP can make an appeal and even if they do make an appeal it does not mean that it will be upheld, there are various stages to the process and an appeal can be thrown out at each of them.

The first stage of the process is for them to request a Statement of Reasons from the Judge of the FTT hearing this must be done within one month of the date of the Decision, if they do make the request then you will receive a copy.

Gordon

Sarah wrote: Thanks for the info, it is muchly appreciated

Would the DWP have a FTT or an UTT in the first instance? If they are contesting my FTT result, would there's be an appeal to the UTT?

I hope that makes sense!

The process is roughly as follows.

The DWP/claimant requests a Statement of Reasons within one month of the hearing.

The Judge prepares this and send to both parties.

If one of the parties believes there has been an Error of Law they apply to the original court for the Decision to be Set Aside, this has to be done within one month of the date of the SoR.

The original court can decide that the following

- there was an Error and the original Decision is Set Aside and a new FTT is held with a new panel.
- there may be an Error but it requires a UTT hearing, an appeal is made to the UTT
- there was no Error.

If the original court decides there was no Error then the person challenging the Decision can apply directly to the UTT. This must be done within one month of the original courts response.

If a request to the UTT is made then a senior Judge will look at the papers to decide

- There is a possible Error
- There is no Error

If they decide there is no Error then the challenge stops.

If they decide there could be an Error then a Senior Judge will go through all of the paperwork from scratch they can decide three things

- There was no Error, the challenge stops
- There was an Error and the FTT needs to be re-held with a new panel and a direction as to how to avoid the Error
- There was an Error and there is sufficient information for the UTT Judge to make a Decision, this could be to support the original Decision or to deny it.

Typical timescales if it goes all the way is about a year.

Gordon