Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

Keeping the English Legal System under review

Transforming the English Legal System: Administrative Justice

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The Consultation Paper, Transforming our Justice System also has important proposals to make about the tribunals system, though – because the creation of the Tribunals Service in 2007 has already led to considerable structural change – changes to tribunals will be less marked than to the the criminal and civil justice systems.
The Paper states that in line with their principles of a just, proportionate and accessible system, the Government is planning on the following:
i. Streamlining procedures and encouraging a balanced approach: We are
working to simplify our procedures and put entire services online where
possible, carefully designed to be intuitive and easy to follow. Many relatively
straightforward tribunal decisions do not require full physical hearings, so where
appropriate, judges will be making decisions based on written representations,
hearings will be held over telephone or video conference and specially trained
case officers will help cases progress through the system. All of these changes
will make the process quicker and easier to deal with for all parties involved in a
case.
ii. Digitising the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal: This will be one of the
first services to be moved entirely online, with an end-to-end digital process that
will be faster and easier to use for people that use it.
iii. Simplifying panel composition: Another factor in taking a balanced, tailored
approach to tribunal cases is making sure the panels that make decisions in
tribunals are designed to best suit the circumstances of the case. Most tribunals
currently reflect historic arrangements that may be out of date and do not tailor
the expertise of the panel according to the case. We propose to revise the
current arrangements for setting panel composition to make sure that that
appropriate expertise is focussed on those cases that need it. We would
welcome views on how best to achieve this.
iv. Reforming employment tribunals: The Employment Tribunals deal with a huge
volume of claims every year – c. 83,000 in 2015/16. They work on similar
principles to many other tribunals and the civil courts, but currently have an
entirely separate structure, including a specific appeals tribunal. We are
considering whether the new approaches being adopted elsewhere in the
justice system could be applied to the employment jurisdiction.

 

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Written by lwtmp

October 5, 2016 at 5:07 pm

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