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‘I've been found fit for work and my ESA has ended’
> ‘I want to know about the appeal process (and how to survive while the appeal is going on)’: late appeal

If you can’t get your appeal in within a month of the date on the letter refusing you, don’t panic! Your appeal can still be accepted even if it’s late. You need to explain on your appeal letter why the appeal is late. There are two other bits of good news:

icon-warning1.jpgThere is (normally) no right of appeal against a decision refusing to accept a late appeal

 
There is an absolute time limit of a year and a month after the date on the decision letter. So if, for example, the decision letter was sent to you on 12th May 2012 and the appeal gets to them on 13th June 2013, it will not be accepted, no matter how good the reasons you have.

And don’t get too excited about having a year and a month to appeal. The later your appeal is the better your reason needs to be. You’ll need a VERY good reason if the decision was sent on 12th May 2012 and your appeal gets to them on 10th June 2013! In fact anything that gets to them a more than a month after the decision was sent to you is going to need a pretty unusual reason.

So what might be a good reason? Here are some possible examples, based on a decision issued on 12th May 2012 : 

icon-key1.jpgDON’T rely on your appeal being accepted if it’s late
DON’T delay further if your appeal is late
DO give further information and reasons if asked


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