EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR APPEALS WHEN REASONS REQ??

Augustus wrote: I was reading the members' guide to ESA appeals and it states that where a claimant requests a statement of reasons fora decision, the deadline is automatically extended by 14 days to 1 months+14 days.
On ringing my [Glasgow] DWP contact centre for confirmation of this, they claimed to know nothing about this. As I am waiting for this info, plus ESA85, and am not prepared to submit an appeal "blind", could you please advise the rule or regulation covering this 14 day extension?
DWP said not to worry about late appeals "as they are normally quite good about this." Sorry, but I would rather not rely on someone's discretion.

Thank you

A

There are two aspects to this; the Law and how the DWP operate, they should be the same but they are not.

The Law states that a claimant is entitled to request a written Statement of Reasons and if this is delayed then then period for lodging an appeal is extended.

The DWP as standard ignore the requirement to provide a SoR, in part they are allowed to, there is no defined format for a SoR and the DWP are allowed to ignore a request if they believe that they have provided the information previously, even if it is in another form, or is provided in multiple documents.

As an indicator, in more than three years of moderating I know of only one member who has actually received a document that was specifically produced as a result of a request for a SoR.

So there are two issues you need to consider, have you already received the information that a SoR would contain and therefor the DWP are not required to produce one despite your continued requests for them to do so, or do you delay your appeal waiting for a document that may only be produced after months of argument discussion between you and the DWP, which may not actually tell you any more than you already know?

Gordon