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Right to Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal
An individual has the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal against a re-determination of their entitlement to assistance (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, s46(1)(a)).
There may be cases where the re-determination is not completed within 56 calendar days of the request for the re-determination being made. In these cases, Social Security Scotland notifies the individual that it has failed to make the re-determination in the time allowed, and gives the individual a form to complete if the individual wants to appeal.
The individual has the right to complete the appeal form and return it to Social Security Scotland if they do not want to wait for the re-determination to be carried out (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, s46(1)(b)).
Example: An individual's right to appeal when a re-determination is not made in time
Flora does not agree with the determination made by Social Security Scotland on her application for CSP. She asks for a re-determination 30 days after she receives the original notification.
Social Security Scotland must make a re-determination within 56 calendar days of receiving the request from Flora. Social Security Scotland have not yet made the re-determination 56 days after they receive Flora’s request and notify her of that fact. Flora now has the right to submit an appeal form to Social Security Scotland because it has not made a re-determination within 56 days.
Social Security Scotland sends Flora’s completed appeal form to the First-tier Tribunal along with the information it used to make the determination.
See the chapter on re-determinations for more information about both:
- late requests for re-determinations
- what counts as a good reason for a late request for a re-determination
An individual also has the right to appeal against Social Security Scotland’s process decisions. This means that an individual has the right to appeal a decision that does not accept that the individual has:
- made a valid application for assistance
- made a valid request for a re-determination of their entitlement
- a “good reason” for requesting a re-determination after 42 calendar days of the original determination, but within 12 months (Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, s61)
Example: an individual's right to appeal a process decision
Charlie does not agree with the determination made by Social Security Scotland on his application for CSP. He asks for a re-determination 60 days after he receives the original notification. He explains that he forgot about the 42-day time limit to apply for a re-determination.
Social Security Scotland does not accept that Charlie has a good reason for requesting it after 42 days. Charlie has the right to apply directly to the First-tier Tribunal to appeal this decision.