Hello

I'm just getting up to speed having returned to this field after 12 months or so out.

One thing in particular that has foxed me is what happened to having a late appeal accepted by showing there are reasonable prospects of success in the appeal.

I can't see a reference to it or a replacement in the CPAG Handbook.

All comments gratefully received.

Hi Don

The reference to reasonable prospects of success in regulation 32(4) of The Decisions and Appeals Regulations was removed by article 122 of The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Order 2008.

Regards
Paul

Dammit - so we're reduced to interests of justice arguments and merits of the appeal (amongst other things) then?

And special circumstances. I'm afraid so. I, like you probably, don't understand its removal just afew years after it was introduced as a stand alone ground.

When I questioned this with TTS I was told that it was easier to have a late appeal accepted by a DM as he only had to not object rather than the appellant having to make out his ground. Ok, but if he does object then the application goes down to TTS where the appellant's case might be more difficult to sustain.

Well it used to be like pushing at an open door - in my CAB guise I used to see loads of people who had been turned down for DLA at some point in the past and we used to bang in late appeals like there was no tomorrow.

I guess those glory days are over.

Hey ho.

It is worse than that we attended a meeting at TAS (Cardiff) to discuss the new rules, and the wording in the Regs actually stated it was now the DWP's responsibility to given reasons why the appeal should not be admitted, in other words (the new vogue word) flippin the emphasis from client to DWp, then 2 week later the new regs were put in place only to find this rule removed and the curret one replacing . So no policitical intervention there then.

Surely not!

Well I've yet to test it, but I attended a TUG meeting in Southampton (we're in the Cardiff region as well) where the implication seemed to be that TS were looking at everything sympathetically so JCP were resigned to late appeals being admitted.

As is the way of these things the client I was looking at - who had a DLA application rejected despite an apparently clear need for need for guidance on unfamilair routes - has dropped off the radar.