tribunals

• tribunals operate alongside the court system
• tribunals are established to allow individuals to enforce their entitlement to social and welfare rights e.g right to redundancy pay, mobility allowance, not to be discriminated against ect
• a tribunal is composed of three people one will be legally qualified and he will be experienced in the area considered by the tribunal
• hears cases at first instance (300,000 cases per yea and has 200 judges and 3,600 lay members)
• • first tier tribunal : war pensions & armed forces compensation , social entitlement chamber , health education & social care chamber , general regulatory chamber , tax chamber , immigration asylum chamber , property chamber
  • cases in the first tier tribunal are heard by a tribunal judge (sometimes with expert lay members)
  • often no legal aid parties represent themselves
  • tribunal decisions are binding
• upper tribunal : administrative appeals chamber, tax & chancery chamber, immigration asylum chamber, lands chamber
• employment tribunal cases are heard by a judge and two lay members one from an employers organisation and one from an employees organisation giving them a clear understanding of employment issues
• tribunals are overseen by the senior president of tribunal whose role is to:

  • ensure that tribunals are accessible fair quick and efficient
  • Liaise with parliament and the law Chancellor
  • Supervise training
  • Supervise allocation of tribunal judges to chambers and cases
• advantages

  • tribunals are useful as they alleviate the pressure on the civil courts by dealing with cases that would otherwise fall to them. they do not suffer from the delays and expense which beset the courts. this is helpful for the administration of justice and accords with the rule of law.
  • tribunals are generally cheaper to use than the civil courts the lose that does not have to pay the winners costs in addition the informal nature of tribune was means that lawyers are not always required
  • tribunal panels are experts in the type of dispute they are established to hear
• disadvantages 


  • the appeal view from tribunals appeal can be complex and expensive and some tribunals have no appeal. for example, there is no domestic right available against a decision of the powers tribunal. This is contrary to the fair trial
  • legal aid is not available for the majority of tribunal hearings this could lead to inequality of bargaining power if only one side can afford a lawyer this is contrary to the rule of laws require requirement that everyone should be equal before the law.