About us
The Tribunals Service was created on 3 April 2006 as an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The Tribunals Service provides administrative support for the tribunals' judiciary who hear cases and decide appeals.
Not all types of appeals are administered by the Tribunals Service. The drop down menu on our home page lists those we cover.
The Senior President of Tribunals is the judicial head of the Tribunals´ judiciary. All judges are independent of Government.
The administration and the judiciary work in partnership with one another to ensure that the public at large have an opportunity to exercise their rights and to seek effective redress against Government decisions. We also help to settle disputes between employers and employees.
The need to reform the Tribunals system was initially set out in a review conducted by Sir Andrew Leggett – "Tribunals for Users – One system One Service". The Government is committed to providing better court and tribunal public services and, as such, the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement (TCE) Act 2007 puts in place a flexible tribunals´ structure which will allow tribunals currently outside the Ministry of Justice to transfer into the new system, as well as allow new jurisdictions to be added. The primary objective in making these changes is to improve the Tribunal Services provided to our customers by:
- Making clear the complete independence of the judiciary, and their decisions making, from Government.
- Speeding up the delivery of justice;
- Making processes easier for the public to understand;
- Bringing together the expertise from each Tribunal.
Implementation of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 received Royal Assent on 9 July 2007. The Act provides a new judicial and legal framework, bringing together individual Tribunals into a new, unified tribunals structure.
Most of the changes resulting from the Act affect the organisation of the tribunals rather than what happens at individual hearings. Where there are changes to how individual appeals are processed these are explained under the respective jurisdictional area of this website. The TCE Act framework creates a new two-tier Tribunal system: A First–tier Tribunal and an Upper Tribunal, both of which are split into Chambers. Each Chamber comprises similar jurisdictions or jurisdictions which bring together similar types of experts to hear appeals. Each Chamber operates under rules and procedures tailored to the needs of individual jurisdictions within the Chamber.
Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act operational framework
The Upper Tribunal primarily, but not exclusively, reviews and decides appeals arising from the First–tier Tribunal. The new Tribunals are adaptable structures able to take on other jurisdictions in the future.
The new Tribunals structure
Each Tribunal is made up of Chambers, and each Chamber is made up of 'jurisdictions'. The title of each broadly indicates the type of work within it.
The following list sets out which chamber deals with which appeals formerly heard by a separate tribunal:
First–tier Tribunal
Social Entitlement Chamber
Health, Education and Social Care Chamber
War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Chamber
The General Regulatory Chamber
- Charity
- Claims Management Services
- Consumer Credit
- Estate Agents
- Gambling Appeals
- Immigration Services
- Information Rights
- Local Government Standards in England; and
- Transport
Immigration and Asylum Chamber
Details of Upper Tribunal Chambers are as follows:
