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Consultation on amended Upper Tribunal rules on permission to appeal
This consultation concerns a proposed amendment to rule 22 of the Upper Tribunal Rules 2008. Accordingly, Upper Tribunal Judges deciding permission to appeal (PTA) applications (or an application to admit a late application for PTA) on the papers will be conferred a power to certify an application (or part of it) as being “totally without merit”. Consequently, the applicant would not be allowed to renew the application (or that part of it) at an oral hearing.
Change will impact on applications -
a) against decisions of -
i) the Tax Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal;
(ii) the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal;
(iia) the General Regulatory Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal;
(iii) the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales; or
(iv) the Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales; or
(b) under section 4 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
Of course there is no right to request reconsideration at a hearing of a refusal of PTA against a decision of the Social Entitlement Chamber.
Whilst I do think that oral advocacy is generally not needed at the AAC, it strikes as a little odd that the sanction for making an appeal against a Tax Chamber decision which is judged “totally without merit” would just be to be put in the same position of anyone trying to appeal an SEC decision.