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 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. Where the First-tier Tribunal is notified before the hearing that a representative has been appointed, it must notify all the parties to the proceedings.

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).

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) 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.