# The Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999, Regulation 32: Late appeals

Extent: E+W+S

(1) Where a dispute arises as to whether an appeal was brought within the time specified under Tribunal Procedure Rules the dispute shall be referred to, and determined by, the First-tier Tribunal.
(2) The Secretary of State ... or the Board, as the case may be, may treat a late appeal as made in time in accordance with Tribunal Procedure Rules if the conditions in paragraphs (4) to (8) are satisfied.
(4) An appeal may be treated as made in time if the Secretary of State... or the Board, as the case may be, is satisfied that it is in the interests of justice.
(5) For the purposes of paragraph (4) it is not in the interests of justice to treat the appeal as made in time unless, the Secretary of State or the Board, as the case may be, is satisfied that—
(a) the special circumstances specified in paragraph (6) are relevant ...; or
(b) some other special circumstances exist which are wholly exceptional and relevant ...,
and as a result of those special circumstances, it was not practicable for the appeal to be made within the time limit specified in Tribunal Procedure Rules.
(6) For the purposes of paragraph (5)(a), the special circumstances are that—
(a) the appellant or a partner or dependant of the appellant has died or suffered serious illness;
(b) the appellant is not resident in the United Kingdom; or
(c) normal postal services were disrupted.
(7) In determining whether it is in the interests of justice to treat the appeal as made in time, regard shall be had to the principle that the greater the amount of time that has elapsed between the expiration of the time limit under Tribunal Procedure Rules and the submission of the notice of appeal, the more compelling should be the special circumstances.
(8) In determining whether it is in the interests of justice to treat the appeal as made in time, no account shall be taken of the following—
(a) that the applicant or any person acting for him was unaware of or misunderstood the law applicable to his case (including ignorance or misunderstanding of the time limits imposed by Tribunal Procedure Rules); or
(b) that the Upper Tribunal or a court has taken a different view of the law from that previously understood and applied.
( 9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
( 10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
( 11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/991/regulation/32 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-and-child-support-decisions-and-appeals-regulations-1999/regulation-32
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.