Shake-up of tribunals system unveiled

The tribunals regime is to undergo a radical overhaul which will see tribunal jurisdictions doing similar work brought together into a simplified two-tier system, the government has announced.

From 3 November 2008 there will be a First Tier—the first instance tribunal for most jurisdictions—and an Upper Tribunal which will deal with appeals from the first-tier tribunal and from some tribunals outside the unified system, and with judicial review work delegated from the High Court.

The employment tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal will be separate, although there will be close links between them. The government is considering bringing the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal into the unified tribunals structure and plans to consult on this shortly. Professor Trevor Buck, research co-ordinator in the Department of Law at De Montfort Law School, says there is a good case for educating the public about the new tribunals. “The unified administration in the form of the Tribunals Service provides much more opportunity to plan and deliver effective communication to the public about what is on offer, and, to provide ‘one-stop-shop’ points of contact so users can be signposted to other parts of the administrative justice system where appropriate,” he adds.