Child Disability Payment decision making guide

Representatives and supporters

Any party in the appeal can be represented by another person. A representative can be a lay or legal representative. A lay representative can be anyone who can act on the party’s behalf. For example, this could be a friend or family member.

The First-tier Tribunal must notify all the parties to the hearing that a representative has been appointed.

A party who is notified that another party has a representative:

  • must give the representative any document which must be given to the represented party
  • can assume that the representative is authorised to represent the other party. This is until they receive written notification that they are no longer the representative

A party can tell the First-tier Tribunal both:

  • that they will be represented by a representative
  • who the representative is 12 in advance of the hearing, but they are not required to do so

If there is a change, a party can decide to be represented by a different person at the hearing. This is even if they have shared the details of another representative with the First-tier Tribunal (The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Social Security Chamber (Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 9).

A party who is an individual can also bring a person along to the hearing to act as a supporter1. The supporter can be a different person to the representative. The supporter can be anyone the individual chooses, for example a friend, a family member or a work colleague (The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Social Security Chamber (Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 10).

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