[2025] UKUT 249 (AAC)

Section 9(5) of the Social Security Act 1998 provides that where a decision is revised under this section, the date the revision is made is, for any purpose as to the time allowed for bringing an appeal, to be treated as the date of the decision.

Sections 102(1)-(4) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 amended section 12 of the Social Security Act 1998, introducing a precondition to exercising a right of appeal: in cases prescribed by the 1999 Regulations, a right of appeal under section 12(2) does not arise unless and until the Secretary of State has considered whether to revise an appealable decision (section 12(3A) of the 1998 Act).

The procedural detail is developed by regulation 3ZA of the 1999 Regulations. In substance, this provision requires that, where a written notice of a decision is given under section 8 or 10 and includes a statement explaining that a right of appeal is conditional on the Secretary of State’s prior consideration of an application for revision, an appeal lies only if such an application has, in fact, been considered.

Rule 22 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Social Entitlement Chamber) Rules 2008 (“the Tribunal Procedure Rules”) further establishes the procedural architecture of the mandatory reconsideration regime, providing that, where mandatory reconsideration applies, an appeal must be commenced within one month from the date on which the outcome of that reconsideration was sent to the claimant; where it does not apply, the relevant period is that stipulated by Schedule 1 of the Tribunal Procedure Rules.

Under Schedule 1, paragraph 5, the prescribed time limit to appeal for cases not otherwise specified is the latest of: