There may be some hope. The DWP requested a postponement, did not receive a response to their request, simply assumed that it would be successful so didn't bother to turn up. Obviously their grounds for requesting the postponemnt sound pretty good, but that's not the point. If they didn't receive a response they should have chased TAS, and if they still couldn't get an answer they should have come along on the day to ask for an adjournment. What would you have done if you had asked for a postponement- with excellent grounds- and time was ticking away and you hadn't received a response? Would you have just sat back, done nothing, and advised your client not to show up at the tribunal? I don't think so.
In fact, in our area the district chair recently sent out a memorandum to all reps stating that if you ask for a postponement and you don't hear anything DO NOT assume that it has been granted and not show up with your client. So if I was in the PO's shoes and was asking for a set aside I would not be holding out much hope.
However the problem here of course is the matter of the tribunal not being passed the postponement request, so they did not have the option of considering an adjournment on the day (which they may well have granted).
Still I would probably be slightly more optimistic than previous posters, and think it's definately worth making a case, the chair may take a dim view of the DWP simply assuming that a postponement/ adjournment would be granted, and not bothering to follow it up at all.
Good luck.
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