629.The PATs are completely separate from the appeals arrangements that apply to Social Security benefits. They are administered by the Lord Chancellor’s Department, the Scottish Courts Administration and the Northern Ireland Court Service. The current system of appeals is slow, in part due to the complexity of the schemes, with waiting times averaging two years (a year for the War Pensions Agency to prepare the papers, and a year for the PATs to list and hear the appeal) although recently performance has improved.
630.The existing legislation provides for varying time limits for different types of appeal. It envisaged a 12-month time limit for some parts of the scheme and a 3-month time limit for others. For a variety of reasons, the envisaged time limits are not, however, always applied in practice. In part this is due to the fact that the PAT can hear late appeals when the appellant demonstrates that there is “reasonable excuse” for the delay in submitting the appeal. “Reasonable excuse” is not defined in the legislation and there are no PAT guidelines on its interpretation. In practice, most late applications are heard and so the time limits are not applied.
Part II: Pensions. Commentary on Sections The Pensions Appeal Tribunals