39 Bente Mundt Head of 2nd Division Who bears the risk if a letter does not arrive? Every day, public authorities send many letters to citizens. It can be crucial to citizens’ legal status that letters from the authorities are handed over to the postal service on the day they are dated and that the postal service ensures that they arrive (on time). For letters containing decisions, it is, for instance, very important to know with certainty when they were sent and when they can be presumed to have reached the addressee. This is particularly important for the calculation of appeal deadlines. It is also important when a local authority summons a cash or sickness benefit recipient to a follow-up meeting, because if the summons does not arrive (before the meeting) and the citizen fails to turn up, the local authority may make a decision that the recipient is no longer entitled to cash or sickness benefit. The Ombudsman considers many cases about late or missing mail from authorities, but although the theme may appear simple, it can be extremely difficult to assess who is right: authority or citizen. Late appeal by senior citizen A local authority sent a letter by ordinary first-class post to a senior citizen, informing him that his pension would be calculated on the basis of the rate for cohabitees rather than that for a single person, which he had requested. As a result, he would receive less money. After various letters between the parties, the local authority again made a decision that the man was cohabiting and also informed him that he could appeal to the Social Tribunal within four weeks. He appealed the decision, but the Tribunal regarded the complaint as having arrived one day too late. The Tribunal therefore asked the man why he had not appealed before the deadline.