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On the use of forms

Hairyloon

I've been fighting with the court about their application forms as a point of principle, but in the course of proceedings the question has raised of whether people with divergent mental makeup might actually really struggle.
They do give me some trouble, when they ask questions that are not relevant in my case: there is always some doubt about leaving things blank.

While i hesitate to call autism a disability, it is legally recognised as one, and if people do actually struggle with unnecessary forms, then maybe I should carry on the fight for their benefit.

Any thoughts?

Parents

  • Well, I have been given permission by the Upper Tribunal to appeal all three cases, so that's good news...
    Not very exciting, but I wanted to share it and there's nobody here who cares...

  • in reply to Hairyloon

    I am not sure if I understand.

    Are you saying that because there was an excessive reliance on forms, which were hard to complete, you weren't able to successfully put your case. But you have now convinced them that this process was unfair, so your three court/tribunal cases can now be appealed?

    If so, the bigger question is whether this is specific to your case, or whether there is a more general principle with regard to forms. I think you are hoping something bigger will come of it and perhaps guidance or process will change.

    Is this right?

Reply
  • in reply to Hairyloon

    I am not sure if I understand.

    Are you saying that because there was an excessive reliance on forms, which were hard to complete, you weren't able to successfully put your case. But you have now convinced them that this process was unfair, so your three court/tribunal cases can now be appealed?

    If so, the bigger question is whether this is specific to your case, or whether there is a more general principle with regard to forms. I think you are hoping something bigger will come of it and perhaps guidance or process will change.

    Is this right?

Children
  • in reply to Stuart333
    Stuart333 said:
    Are you saying that because there was an excessive reliance on forms, which were hard to complete, you weren't able to successfully put your case. But you have now convinced them that this process was unfair, so your three court/tribunal cases can now be appealed?

    No.

    They initially tried to reject the applications because they weren't on the form. When they realised that they weren't allowed to do that, they made an order, just for me, ordering that any future applications must use the form.

    The first two appeals are against that order.
    The third appeal came about because they decided to play silly beggars over a subsequent application because i hadn't done it on the form...

    Since then, they've gone running to the Lord Chancellor and made it a rule that the forms have to be used unless you get permission to not use them... https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/practice-direction-use-of-forms-in-the-first-tier-tribunal-general-regulatory-chamber/

    I've asked for their reasons for that, and they said "A minority of litigants were not using the forms, resulting in the
    submission of insufficient information..."
    They won't say how many this minority amounts to. I suspect it is one, in which case they've been misled about the "Insufficient information".
    They claimed to have done "An assessment of the impact on equalities", but they have refused to show it to me, neither will they show any cost/benefit analysis...
    I've suggested that the Freedom of Information Act doesn't allow them to refuse, but they've not had time to answer that yet.