Tribunals have complex administrative and judicial systems. You can make your appeal go more smoothly, and sometimes increase you chances of success, by knowing a little about these systems. The experienced tribunal representatives at the Tribunal Support Unit give the following tips:
1. Delay in responding to your appeal – On receiving your appeal, the decision maker should send the appeal papers and a submission to both the appellant and the Tribunals Service. Usually, the Tribunals Service will not set a time for the appeal hearing until this submission is received.
If there is a long delay in supplying the submission, you can write your own. Send it to the District Chairperson at the Tribunals Service with as much documentary evidence as you can. Explain what you have already done to try to get the relevant agency to prepare a submission. Ask the Chairperson to arrange for the tribunal to take place as soon as possible.
The Tribunal Support Unit produces a free factsheet on preparing submissions: www.disabilityalliance.org/f38.htm.
2. Ask for an oral hearing – around 50% of oral hearings of an appeal are successful, less than 20% of paper hearings succeed. The chances of success rise to about 66% if the appellant attends the hearing with a representative.
At an oral hearing the tribunal will ask questions about anything that is unclear. At a paper hearing, the tribunal has no opportunity to do this and may assume that any gaps in the evidence are unfavourable.
3. Contact the Tribunals Service to arrange a date – once the Tribunals Service has received the appeal papers you join the queue for a hearing. If you phone the tribunal clerk early enough, you can arrange a convenient time and date for the hearing. If there are no dates available when you call, the clerk should tell you the best time to call back.
4. Send in additional evidence early – a tribunal will have read all of the appeal papers before the hearing. It will have an opinion about the merits of the appeal before the hearing starts. You should try to influence this opinion as much as you can. Sending supporting evidence to the tribunal early helps the tribunal form a favourable opinion of the appeal and is likely to make the hearing easier for both you and the appellant.
If complex evidence is produced at short notice or on the day of the hearing, the tribunal can adjourn to study it. This could take a few minutes or a new hearing might need to be arranged for several weeks later.
The decision maker can revise their decision at any time before the tribunal. If you send extra evidence early, a copy will be sent to the department and could do away with the need for the tribunal.
The Tribunal Support Unit provides a free factsheet on getting supporting medical evidence: www.disabilityalliance.org/f37.htm.
5. Write a submission – A submission is a document that explains your view of the question under appeal. It should contain your interpretation of the law and facts and why you think that the appeal should be successful.
Writing a submission helps you to develop a clear picture of the appeal and the matters in dispute. It should set out your argument in a way that the tribunal will understand. If it is sent to the Tribunals Service in advance, the tribunal will read it before the hearing; this should make the hearing quicker and easier.
The submission is a record of your arguments. This is helpful for the tribunal when it retires to make its decision. It may also be useful if your appeal to the tribunal fails and you need to appeal further.
The Tribunal Support Unit produces free factsheets on preparing submissions: www.disabilityalliance.org/f38.htm and on further appeals: www.disabilityalliance.org/f39.htm.
6. Agree expenses in advance – The appellant can claim expenses to help them attend an oral appeal hearing. Usually these are costs of travel by public transport and meals if away from home for a set time. Expenses can be claimed for other costs, including:
• childminding
• lost earnings
• travel by taxi if the appellant cannot use public transport
• expenses for a companion if the appellant needs someone with them
• expenses of a witness.
Payment of expenses is at the discretion of the Tribunals Service. If the expenses you want to claim are for anything other than public transport and meals, contact the tribunal clerk to agree them in advance.
Usually, only travel costs are refunded at the hearing venue – other expenses are refunded by post. If you need expenses to be paid on the day of the hearing in cash, you will have to arrange this with the tribunal clerk in advance.
7. Explain to the appellant what will happen in the tribunal – Explain the tribunal procedure so that the appellant knows what to expect. Explain that the tribunal will usually want to hear first hand oral evidence from the appellant.
Explain what kind of questions the tribunal are likely to ask and why. For instance, if the appeal is about a disability question the tribunal is likely to ask the appellant to describe an average day or explain how they travelled to the hearing. Explain why these questions are asked and what information the tribunal is trying to get.
8. Get there early – try to arrive at the hearing venue at least 10 minutes before hearing time. Sometimes a hearing ahead of you is cancelled. If this happens you can be called in early (with your agreement). Also, arriving early gives you time to calm the appellant, hand in last-minute evidence, claim expenses or talk to the Presenting Officer before the hearing.
9. Talk to the Presenting Officer – if a Presenting Officer is at the hearing, talk to them in the waiting room before the hearing starts. You should get an idea of points they will concede and what they will contest. You may be able to negotiate a starting position for the hearing – but remember, although the tribunal will usually accept any point agreed by you and the presenting officer, it does not have to and can investigate and decide the point itself.
10. Get Disability Alliance’s Benefits Appeals guide – Benefits Appeals is a unique comprehensive guide to the benefits appeals system for advisers and disabled people. You can order a copy here: www.disabilityalliance.org/benapp.htm.