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 the appellant chooses. For example, this could be a friend or family member.

The party should communicate the details of the representative to the Tribunal prior to the hearing (The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Social Security Chamber (Rules of Procedure) 2018, rule 9(1)). Where thehe First-tier Tribunal is notified before the hearing that a representative has been appointed, it must notify all the parties to the proceedings (The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Social Security Chamber (Rules of Procedure) 2018, rule 9(2)).

Where the First-tier Tribunal receives notice of the appointment of a representative, the Tribunal:

• must give the representative any documents which must be given to the represented party before, on or after the day the Tribunal is notified of the appointment
• may assume that the representative remains appointed unless the Tribunal receives 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 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 (Rules of Procedure) 2018, rule 9(4)).

A party who is an individual can also bring a person along to the hearing to act as a supporter (The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Social Security Chamber (Rules of Procedure) 2018, rule 10). 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.