Department for Work and Pensions

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6. Reviews and appeals

6.1 Reviews

The compensator, the injured person, or either party's representative may ask CRU to review any aspect of a Certificate at any time. Please put your request in writing giving the reasons why you think the Certificate is wrong and provide the relevant evidence.

A review may be made on the following grounds:

When we review a Certificate we look at all the:

Any errors, omissions or other changes, which may affect the outcome of the review, will be taken into account, even if unrelated to your reasons for requesting the review.

Once the review is complete, CRU will either:

If a revised Certificate is issued it will cover the same period as the Certificate it replaces.

CRU will issue a fresh Certificate showing an increase in the amount of recoverable benefits only where the variation is required because the person who applied for the Certificate, supplied us with incorrect or insufficient information. Where this happens, the compensator will be liable to pay the difference to CRU.

Lump Sum payments

If CRU become aware that recoverable lump sum payments have been paid after a Certificate has been issued, they will issue a revised Certificate to include the lump sum payment amount. The revised Certificate will supersede any previous Certificate.

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6.2 Appeals

Leaflet Z2 explains how to appeal against a Certificate. It also contains the form that can be used.

An appeal against a Certificate may be made on the grounds that:

Please note: Any requests for appeal that do not comply with the above grounds will be regarded as invalid and referred to the Tribunals Service for authority to proceed.

An appeal may only be made after final settlement of the compensation claim and payment of recoverable benefits and or lump sum payments has been made.

An appeal must be made within one month of the date on which the compensator makes the full payment of recoverable benefits and or lump sum payments to the Secretary of State.

For appeal purposes, orders for provisional damages in personal injury cases made under or by virtue of section 32A(2)(a) of the Supreme Court Act 1981, section 12(2)(a) of the Administration of Justice Act 1982, or section 51(2)(a) of the County Courts Act 1984, are to be treated as having been finally disposed of.

If an appeal is late, a tribunal judge based at the Tribunals Service may be asked to consider the reasons for lateness and make a decision whether or not it can be accepted. The appellant must always explain why their appeal was late. 

An appeal may be made by a compensator or by an injured person whose compensation payment was reduced by the compensator to take account of benefit/lump sum payment recovery, in accordance with section 8 of the 1997 Act and Regulation 12 of the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) (Lump Sum Payments) Regulations 2008.

Appeals are heard by independent tribunals that are administered by the Tribunals Service.

The tribunal may decide that the amount on a Certificate is correct or that the amount should be increased or decreased.

Where the amount on a Certificate is increased following an appeal the compensator will be liable to pay the balance due to the DWP.

Where the amount on a Certificate is reduced or removed altogether, a refund and a fresh Certificate will be issued to the compensator. If the injured person was party to the proceedings, a copy of the Certificate will be sent to them or their representative.

Where the compensator has offset some of the amount on a Certificate (see examples of offsetting in Section 1.2, Listed benefits covered by the scheme) against the compensation paid to the injured person, some or all of the refund may need to be passed on to them.

Any party to the proceedings may make an appeal to the Upper Tribunal against the decision of an appeal tribunal they consider that the decision was erroneous in law.

Before you can appeal to the Upper Tribunal, you must have received a written statement of the tribunal’s decision, and applied to the tribunal judge for permission to appeal.

A leaflet which gives a full explination of how to appeal to the Upper Tribunal is available from the Tribunals Service;

Please note: Sections 10-14 of the Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 and Regulations 9 and 30-58 of the Social Security and Child Support (Decision and Appeals) Regulations 1999 contain information regarding Reviews and Appeals.

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