Child Disability Payment decision making guide
Time limits for requesting a re-determination
The individual should request a re-determination within 42 calendar days beginning with the day the individual is informed of the right to make the request (CDP regs, reg. 37(1)). A period of 48 hours is allowed after the determination is issued to the individual before the 42 calendar days starts (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 s. 62(2)).
If a request for a re-determination is made after the period of 42 calendar days it is considered late. If Social Security Scotland consider that there is a good reason for a late request, they can accept the request for a re-determination. This can be up to a maximum of one year from when the individual was informed of the determination that they want to be re-determined (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 s. 41(4)(b)).
Social Security Scotland may only consider late re-determination requests if both the (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 s. 41(4)(b)):
- individual has good reason for not requesting a re-determination sooner
- request is made before the end of the day that falls one year after the day the individual was notified of the determination. If the request is made after one year, it can only be accepted where the good reason is related to coronavirus (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 s. 52A).
‘Good reason’ is not defined in legislation. The individual circumstances in each case should therefore be considered carefully. If Social Security Scotland considers that the individual had good reason for the late re-determination application, both:
- the rationale should be recorded on the case
- the late request should be accepted.
It should be noted that ‘good reason’ is a lower standard than, for example, ‘exceptional circumstances’. Examples are provided below but this list is not exhaustive.
If an individual cannot explain why their re-determination request was late, then Social Security Scotland should refuse to accept the request for a re-determination.
Social Security Scotland must inform the individual if a late request for a re-determination is accepted (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 s. 42(2)).
If a late request for re-determination is not accepted by Social Security Scotland, the individual must be notified of (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 s. 42(2)):
- the decision not to accept the late request for re-determination
- the reasons for this decision
- their right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal under section 61 of the Act and how to request this.
An individual submits a re-determination request 58 calendar days after being informed of the right to make the request. They advise that the re-determination was late because their child was in hospital from before when the determination was issued until day 57. It would be reasonable for Social Security Scotland to accept this reason for the re-determination being late.
An individual submits a re-determination request 64 calendar days after being informed of the right to make the request. They tell Social Security Scotland that they required support and assistance in completing the forms to request the re-determination and had been unable to obtain that assistance until recently. The individual is being supported by Citizens Advice Bureau who confirmed there were delays in them being able to provide the necessary support to the individual in completing the request for a re-determination. It would be reasonable for Social Security Scotland to accept this reason for the re-determination being late.