UtT Oral hearing

The SoS has requested that a PIP appeal I have made to the made to the Upper Tribunal is to be an oral hearing, and the Judge has agreed.

Please can you advise on the process for this. In particular, do I and the SoS's representative present our cases, including submissions on the most recent submissions by the other party, or will we simply be asked questions about what we have already submitted? The Judge has indicated that it should not take longer than 2 hours.

Catherine

In terms of process the hearing won't be much different from the First Tier one that you attended, there will be a Judge only and they will be asking you about your reasons for the appeal, there should be an opportunity for you to state your case without interruption.

Remember, this is only about whether there was an Error of Law in the making of the Decision you will not be there to argue that an award should be made.

It is possible that this will be a video or telephone hearing rather than a face to face one.

Gordon

Thank you Gordon.

From my understanding of the paperwork is the Judge has decided that the FtT made an error in law, and the SoS agrees with this. In his/her draft views he/she went to some length to say how the particular descriptors should be interpreted, and it is these views which the SoS is not in full agreement about, hence her request for an oral hearing.

The Judge has also asked for our views on whether or not the decision should be remade by the UtT or passed back down the FtT.

Catherine

Hi Catherine

Thank you for the update, we do not get many post from members going to the UTT.

If the decision is made by the UTT then it sets a precedent to FTT. Have you decided yet whether to go for UTT or FTT decision?

Gary

Hi Gary,

We have requested that UtT remakes the decision primarily because we do not believe that there are any additional facts regarding the case to be explored, and the initial FtT made extensive notes which are in the bundle. We also pointed out that it is now over three years since the initial application was made, and avoidance of any further delays would be good!

However the SoS has requested that it is returned to the FtT, so we wait and see.

When we requested permission from the UtT to appeal to the UtT the SoS requested a decision without reasons, the Judge appears inclined to give guidance as to how the descriptors are to be interpreted, regardless of which Tribunal decides what points are to be awarded in this particular case.

Catherine

Catherine