Commentary on provisions of the Act Section 48: Upper Tribunal consideration of new matters
The general expectation is that the Upper Tribunal will determine appeals and applications for permission to appeal on the basis of the information available to the Secretary of State at the time they made the original decision which is the subject of the appeal. This section makes provision for the consideration by the Upper Tribunal of new matters that were not available to the Secretary of State.
	Subsections (3) and (5) provide that the Upper Tribunal cannot consider new matters (as defined in subsection (4)) unless the Secretary of State has given their consent or, if the Secretary of State has refused to provide consent, where the Upper Tribunal considers there were compelling reasons for the matter not to have been provided to the Secretary of State before the end of the claim period. The Secretary of State may provide consent where there were compelling reasons for the claimant not to have provided details of the matter before the end of the claim period (subsection (6)).
	Where the Upper Tribunal considers new matters have been raised, the relevant period for the purpose of considering whether there are compelling reasons (and whether to allow consideration of the new matter) is three working days. This is in addition to the period for considering the appeal or permission to appeal application.
	A decision of the Upper Tribunal to make or not make a determination under subsection (5) is not subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal in England and Wales or Northern Ireland or the Court of Session in Scotland as provided for in section 13 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (subsection (7)).