Separate appeals in same hearing

I am currently representing a client at Tribunal whose hearing has been split into two separate appeals, one for an alleged overpayment of IS and another for allegedly living together as man and wife.

My problem is that the alleged overpayment is due to the allegations of living together as man and wife so I see no need in splitting the appeals.

Is this something anyone else has encountered as a representative as this is new to me

This is entirely normal - you have an entitlement appeal and an overpayment appeal. Both are separate decisions so needed to be appealed separately. The facts/ issues will normally be the same or pretty similar. If you win the entitlement appeal (i.e they are not LTAMAW) then the overpayment appeal will go the same way, as she did not fail to disclose or misrepresent that she was LTAMAW, though the issue of LTAMAW is an outcome decision rather than a fact. The facts are based around sharing a common household

Sometimes the overpayment appeal may have slightly different issues/ facts, e.g a couple accept that they were LTAMAW, but only for part of the overpayment decision.

Sorry, I presume you meant 2 separate appeals that are being heard together by the same Tribunal at the same time? If not, you need to make HMCTS aware that they have listed the appeals separately and they really ought to be linked and heard together.

It is more likely that the two appeals are being heard together. It seems to be quite common. It’s up to the Judge how s/he sets about managing the hearing, whether it’s half and half or just a series of questions and then a decision on both.

Make sure you definitely have two appeals lodged if appropriate - o/p and entitlement. I almost got caught out by this already and submitted the o/p appeal in the nick of time!

Hi Louise :-)

The two decisions will be filed under two different appeal ref numbers but if normal service is ongoing then they’ll be heard on the same session.