Notice of appeal

If the First-tier Tribunal gives permission to appeal, the appealing party has 30 days to send a ‘notice of appeal’ to the Upper Tribunal. The 30 days starts when the party is presumed to have received permission to appeal (The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 4(1)).

The appealing party should send a notice of appeal by completing the ‘Upper Tribunal Appeal and Permission Request Form’ on the Upper Tribunal’s website. A notice of appeal must include all of the following (The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 4(2) and 4(3)):

• identify the decision being appealed
• any written record of the First-tier Tribunal’s decision being appealed
• the points of law which the party wants to appeal
• the views of the party on if the appeal should include a hearing
• any separate written statement of reasons for the decision
• the notice of permission to appeal.

 The Upper Tribunal must send a copy of (The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 4(4)):

• the notice
• any accompanying documents

to the other party who is responding to the appeal. This party is known as the respondent.

A notice of appeal lodged after the 30 day time limit must include (The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 4(5)):

• a request for an extension of the time limit
• the reasons why the notice was late
• the reasons why the extension is in the interests of justice.

The Upper Tribunal does not admit the notice of appeal if it does not extend the time limit.

A valid notice of appeal is provided to the Upper Tribunal if the Upper Tribunal gives permission to appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal.

Non-disclosure of documents and information that could cause serious harm to physical or mental health

The Upper Tribunal may give a direction prohibiting the disclosure of a document or information to a person (“the recipient”) if:

• the document or information relates to the physical or mental health of a person,
• a registered medical practitioner or a registered nurse has advised either the Upper Tribunal, or one or more of the parties, that disclosure of the information is likely to cause serious harm to the recipient’s, or some other person’s, physical or mental health,
• the Upper Tribunal is satisfied that disclosure of the harmful document or information would be likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of the recipient or some other person, and
• the Upper Tribunal is satisfied that it is in the interests of justice and proportionate to give such a direction (The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 17(2)).

An example could be information about a diagnosis of malignancy. See the chapter on Special Rules for Terminal Illness for information on when a medical professional may decide not to tell a person that they are terminally ill or other information relating to their physical or mental health.

The Upper Tribunal can issue a direction to prohibit the disclosure of a document or information to a person on its own initiative.

In addition, if either party to an appeal considers that the Upper Tribunal should withhold information from a person because it is likely to cause serious harm to their physical or mental health, the party can make a request for the Tribunal to withhold the information.

The party who makes that request must provide the information to the Tribunal, request that it is not disclosed, and set out the reasons why the party thinks the information should be withheld (The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 17(3)). Guidance on how to make such a request to the Tribunal is set out in Operational Guidance.

Where the Tribunal decides that information should not be disclosed to a party to the appeal who has a representative, or any other person acting on their behalf, the Tribunal can disclose the information to the representative or person acting on behalf of the party (The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 17(5)). This could be the party’s appointee for example.

The Tribunal must be satisfied that disclosing the information is in the interests of the party and their representative, or person acting on their behalf, won’t disclose it to the party at risk of harm. The representative should not disclose the information to anyone else unless the Tribunal consents (The Upper Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2018, Schedule, para 17(6)).