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The Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council

The Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council. National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers 5 March 2010 Bob Chapman. The AJTC’s Constitution. Formerly the Council on Tribunals Established on 1 November 2007 under the TCE Act 2007

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The Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council

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  1. The Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers 5 March 2010 Bob Chapman

  2. The AJTC’s Constitution • Formerly the Council on Tribunals • Established on 1 November 2007 under the TCE Act 2007 • Comprising 10 to 15 appointed members and the Parliamentary Ombudsman • Separate Scottish and Welsh Committees • Scottish and Welsh members represented on the AJTC • Current AJTC Chair is Richard Thomas CBE

  3. Statutory Role • Keep the administrative justice system under review • Consider ways to make the system accessible, fair and efficient • Advise Ministers on the development of the system and propose changes • Make proposals for research into the system • Keep under review the constitution and working of listed tribunals and statutory inquiries

  4. Our Purpose To help make administrative justice accessible, fair and efficient by: • Playing a pivotal role in the development of coherent principles and good practice • Promoting understanding, learning and continuous improvement • Ensuring that the needs of users are central

  5. What is “the administrative justice system”? “the overall system by which decisions of an administrative or executive nature are made in relation to particular persons, including: (a) the procedures for making such decisions (b) the law under which such decisions are made (c) the systems for resolving disputes and airing grievances in relation to such decisions.” TCE Act, Schedule 7, para 13

  6. How the AJTC operates • Monthly meetings • Visits to tribunal hearings • Regular contact with tribunal judiciary and administrators • Feedback to tribunals following visits and regular reports to the Senior President of Tribunals • Annual Report to Parliament • Responding to statutory consultations

  7. The Tribunals Service • Brings together the largest and most significant tribunal systems e.g. social security, employment, immigration etc. • Operating under unified Rules made by Tribunals Procedure Committee • Headed by the Senior President, Lord Justice Carnwath • Centralisation of backroom administration of tribunals • AJTC plays the role of “critical friend”

  8. AJTC Projects 2010 - 2013 • Principles of Administrative Justice • Getting it Right First Time • Social Security time limits for appeals • The operation of Mental Health Tribunals • Proportionate Dispute Resolution • The use of new technology • Developing and promoting research proposals

  9. Social Security Time Limits Project “To investigate the actual time that cases are taking to get to the Tribunals Service from the DWP Agencies and ensure equality of treatment between the Department and appellants, as the parties to an appeal”

  10. Our evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee • Need to reduce the complexity of benefit rules • Better feedback from tribunals to decision makers • Presenting Officers to attend hearings as a matter of course • Better training for decision makers • Appeals should be lodged with the Tribunals Service rather than the DWP agencies • Uniform statutory time limit for DWP to respond to appeals – 42 days? • Need to reduce appeal delays and provide better information to appellants about hearing delays

  11. Select Committee’s Key Recommendations • Simplify the system • Better reasoned decisions • 5-day target for reconsiderations • One month time limit to deal with appeals • Improve data on how long appeals take to get to hearing • Advise appellants about success rates if they attend • DWP to explain absence of Presenting Officers

  12. How can NAWRA help with the time limits project? AJTC is looking for case studies highlighting the impact of appeal delays on appellants • Cases where appellants have had a long wait to get their case to a tribunal • Delays both within the DWP and the Tribunals Service • What effect do delays have on appellants? • What can DWP do to get more decisions right? • Send details of cases to paulthomas.smith@ajtc.gsi.gov.uk

  13. The Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council 5 March 2010 www.ajtc.gov.uk

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