Re-determinations and appeals
The process to determine who should receive support where there are multiple carers does not change the carers’ re-determination and appeal rights. Where a determination of entitlement is made, carers will have the right to challenge this through re-determination and appeal.
In a situation where carer 1 has agreed during the process that Carer Support Payment should be awarded to carer 2, their award would be ended through a determination without application. This would allow them to request a re-determination or appeal against this determination should they wish to do so. In practice we would not expect carers to challenge this determination where they have already agreed to this.
Where a determination is made that carer 1 or carer 2 is ineligible for Carer Support Payment, as part of the multiple carers process, they would have re-determination and appeal rights. This would also be the case where a decision needs to be made between the two carers to determine which carer should be awarded support.
If carers disagree with a re-determination decision, they have the right to appeal to the First Tier Tribunal. First Tier Tribunal decisions are final unless there has been an error in law. In these cases carers can appeal to the Upper Tribunal.
Where a carer requests a re-determination or appeal against a decision in a multiple carers scenario, and the decision has been made by taking into account the circumstances of another carer, information about the other carer will need to be considered in the re-determination and appeal process. Information on the circumstances of the other carer in the decision should be used anonymously. There should be no requirement for the other carer to be involved in the re-determination or appeal process and they would not be sent any papers or documentation relating to the re-determination or appeal process.
Where the decision goes to Appeal, and the Tribunal finds that the decision between the two carers was made incorrectly, the Tribunal would be able to determine that the denied carer should receive Carer Support Payment. The determination to end the award to the existing recipient would then be made by Social Security Scotland, separately from the Tribunal, so that the carer would then have the right to request a separate re-determination and then appeal against this further decision.