Your appeal cannot be accepted if you appeal 13 months or more after the date on the decision letter.

If you make an appeal outside of the one month deadline but less than 13 months after we sent notifications to you, your appeal is considered to be late.

A late appeal may not be accepted unless there are special circumstances for the delay.

This could be something like:

  • A death
  • A serious illness
  • Absence abroad
  • A postal strike
  • Some other special circumstance which prevented you from making an appeal on time

You should explain why you could not appeal in time on the appeal form.

We will look at the reasons you have given for not appealing in time and consider whether the delay is justified.