Income Support OP and Bond Treated as Capital

Tony Bowman - 11 July 2012 08:28 AM

If the client appealed against the decision of 19th April 2006 that client was overpaid IS of £7,231.71 for the period 01/02/2002 to 05/01/2006 and it was that decision that was revised by the (1st) decision dated 20th October 2006 - I have looked again at the decision we made on the 16th January 2006 that the client is not entitled to IS.  I have decided that client is entitled to IS from and including 13th January 2006 then there is a solid point to argue that the appeal was incorrectly lapsed.

If the client appealed regarding overpaid benefit for a fixed period, then adding an entitlement to the end of that period is 1) not favourable to the decision under appeal and 2) probably revising the wrong decision in any case. That’s unlikely which is why I think there are pieces of the puzzle missing.

There was a UT decision on lapsing appeals 1-2 years ago that would support this argument in your case. I don’t remember the reference though or where I saw it (probably the welfare rights bulletin).

After so long, I’m not sure how you’d go about getting an incorrectly lapsed appeal reinstated. I suppose you could just argue that as a matter of law the appeal could not lapse and therefore it must still subsist.

Thanks for your input Tony, I think I need to gather more information.  I think you are right though there are pieces of information and decision(s) missing.