When and how to appeal

If either parent wants to appeal, they should either fill in the form at the back of our leaflet How can I appeal against a child maintenance decision? (PDF: 682KB) or write a letter to us that tells us:

their child maintenance reference number (this will be at the top of the letter telling them about the decision)
the decision they are appealing against
the date on the letter telling them about the decision
the reasons why they think the decision is wrong.

They must also sign the appeal form or letter. If either parent has asked someone to represent them, that person can sign the form or letter. However, we can only accept this if we have been told in writing that this person is acting as their representative.

Appeals should be sent to:

Child Support Agency
Central Appeals Unit
Peel Park Blackpool
Pittman Way
Preston
PR11 2DN

An appeal must be sent to us within one month of the date of the letter that tells the parents about our decision.

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What happens if an appeal is late?

If we receive an appeal after the time limit has run out (more than one month after the date of the original letter the parents received from us about the decision or the letter they received that said we would not change the decision), the appeal may not be accepted.

Our Central Appeals Unit will only accept late appeals if the parent's reasons for appealing after the time limit are because of one or more special circumstances listed below. If they are not satisfied that one or more of these circumstances applies to the parent who is making the appeal, they will pass the late appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Appeals (SSCSA) Tribunal - the part of the Tribunals Service that hears appeals against our decisions.

It's up to the SSCSA Tribunal to decide if they will accept a late appeal. They are only allowed to do this if they are satisfied that:

it has a reasonable chance of success
there are special circumstances, and
it is no more than a year after the time limit for appealing ran out.

The special circumstances are:

the parent who is appealing has been seriously ill
a close relative (a partner or someone who depends on the parent, such as a child) has been seriously ill or has died
the parent lives outside the United Kingdom
the postal services were disrupted, or
the SSCSA Tribunal decides that there was some other exceptional and relevant reason which meant that an appeal could not be made within the time limit.

To ask the SSCSA Tribunal to consider accepting a late appeal, they need to know why it is late. These details should be included using the relevant box on the appeal form or by telling us in the appeal letter.

The SSCSA Tribunal will look at the reasons and decide whether or not to go ahead with the appeal. If they do not accept the reasons, the appeal will not go ahead.

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What happens when the CSA receives an appeal?

When we receive an appeal, we will check that we have been given all the information we need. We will also check that it has been signed by the parent who is appealing, or the person they have asked to represent them. If both of these conditions are met we will accept that the appeal has been made properly. We sometimes call this 'duly made'. We will then start to examine the appeal

If the appeal has not been made properly, we will return it for the parent making the appeal to complete, or will ask for more information, within 14 days.

If the parent sends back everything that is needed within 14 days, we will treat their appeal as if it was made in time. If they think they can't meet this deadline, they should tell us straight away. We may be able to give more time.

If the information we ask for is not sent back in the time allowed, we will send what has been provided to the SSCSA Tribunal. They may decide not to accept it because the appeal has not been duly made.

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Looking at the decision again

When we accept that an appeal has been made properly, we carefully look at the parts of the decision that the parent doesn't agree with. In some cases, we may contact the parent who is appealing direct to try and sort out the issue - either by explaining the reasons for our decision, or to get more information.

If they are satisfied by our explanation, or we change the decision to take account of new information, the parent can ask to withdraw their appeal.We will also ask for an appeal to be withdrawn if we find that there are no mistakes in our decision or that a change to our decision would not be in the parent's favour. To withdraw an appeal the parent, or their representative, must write to:

Child Support Agency
Central Appeals Unit
Peel Park Blackpool
Pittman Way
Preston
PR11 2DN

If we find that we can change the decision and that the change will be in favour of the parent who made the appeal we will send both parents a letter to tell them the new amount of child maintenance that must be paid.

We currently sort out around half of all appeals by this stage in the process. However, this stage does take an average of 10 weeks.

Preparing an appeal submission

If we don't change the decision, and the person appealing decides they want their appeal to continue, we will then prepare an appeal submission for the SSCSA Tribunal. The appeal submission contains all the information the Tribunal Service will need about the decision that is being appealed against, and why we made it (such as the original application form, wage slips, bank statements and any letters we sent or received) as well as all the information we have on the appeal. This will include copies of letters that the parent, or the other people involved in the appeal, have written, if they help explain the decision or reason for appeal.

We will then send copies of the appeal submission to the SSCSA Tribunal, to the parent who is appealing and to all the other people connected to the appeal.

Before sending the appeal submission to everyone who is connected to the appeal, we will send a form to ask if they want us to remove any information that would reveal where they are living. If they want their address to stay confidential, they must tell our Central Appeals Unit within 14 days of the date on the form that they are sent about this. If they do not reply, we will include the information in the appeal submission.

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Related information

Read our leaflet "How can I appeal against a Child Support Agency decision?" [PDF 282Kb]

Other websites

How to Appeal - A guide from the Tribunals Service designed to help you understand the appeals procedure