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More Disputes, Please: The Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014

Document Cited authorities 6 Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 September 2014
DOI10.3366/elr.2014.0233
Pages400-405
AuthorSarah Craig
Date01 September 2014
<p>This article discusses the new structure for dealing with disputes heard by the devolved tribunals in Scotland, introduced by the <a href="https://vlex.co.uk/vid/tribunals-scotland-act-2014-808452529">Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014</a> (“<a href="https://vlex.co.uk/vid/tribunals-scotland-act-2014-808452529">the 2014 Act</a>”).<xref ref-type="fn" rid="fn1"><sup>1</sup> </xref><fn id="fn1"><label>1</label> <p>The Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 11 March 2014 and received Royal Assent on 15 April 2014.</p> </fn> The new structure aligns the devolved tribunals with reserved tribunals currently operating across the UK and raises questions about the future direction for tribunals in Scotland following a “yes” or “no” vote in September's independence referendum, as well as issues of accessibility and fairness.</p> A NEW STRUCTURE FOR DEVOLVED TRIBUNALS.

The 2014 Act establishes a new structure for devolved tribunals by creating a First-tier Tribunal and an Upper Tribunal for Scotland, to be known collectively as the Scottish Tribunals. The First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (“FTTS”) will be organised into chambers according to subject matter,2

S 20.

and each chamber will have a President.3

S 21.

 In the Upper Tribunal for Scotland (“UTS”), divisions will mark the boundaries between subject matters, and each division will have a Vice-President.4

S 24.

 The head of the Scottish Tribunals will be the Lord President of the Court of Session5

S 2.

 and there will also be an overall President of Tribunals to whom functions will be delegated.6

S 4.

 Tribunal Presidents will choose members to decide cases and will also allocate members, who can be ordinary, legal or judicial members,7

Part 2.

 to sit singly or in panels of two or more.8

Part 5.

 To start with, the Additional Support Needs Tribunal, the Scottish Charity Appeals Tribunal, The Crofting Commission, the Education Appeal Committee, the Lands Tribunal for Scotland, the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, the NHS National Appeal Panel, the NHS Tribunal, the Parking Adjudicator, the Police Appeals Tribunal and the Valuation Appeal Committee will be brought into the Scottish Tribunals structure.9

S 27 and sch 1 part 1.

 Interestingly, this is a slightly different group of devolved tribunals from those currently administered by the Scottish Tribunals Service.10

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/policies/civil-courts/tribunal-system/Tribunals/AboutSTS .

The procedure is that appeals which currently go to one of the tribunals listed above will instead be heard at one of the chambers of the FTTS. Appeals against decisions of the FTTS will need permission before they can be brought to the UTS,11

S 46.

and the scope for that tribunal to interfere with FTTS decisions will be limited to points of law.12

S 46(2).

 The FTTS will be able to review its own decisions internally to correct errors, but this power is rationed: it can only be used once per case.13

S 45.

 The conduct of hearings and rules on the admissibility of evidence will be provided for in Rules and Practice Directions.14

Part 7.

 ALIGNMENT WITH RESERVED TRIBUNALS.

A recurring feature of tribunals, often invoked to illustrate their importance, is the volume of cases they deal with in comparison with the “mainstream” civil and criminal courts. When the 2014 Act was passed one estimate put the number of tribunal cases heard annually in Scotland,15

Scottish Parliament, Official Report col 28723 (11 Mar 2014) estimated at 150,000.

at about twice the total number of civil cases in Scotland in 2012-13.16

77,453 across the Court of Session and Sheriff Courts: see Scottish Government, Civil Law Statistics in Scotland 2012-13 (2014), available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/03/8876/downloads .

 At the same time it was estimated that only two to three per cent of tribunal cases in Scotland are heard annually by the tribunals which will initially be brought into the new structure.17

Official Report (n 15) col 28723, 4000 cases heard by devolved tribunals.

 It will therefore be difficult for the Scottish Tribunals to rely on volume of cases to support their significance, at least until more tribunals are brought within their fold

Pausing here, it becomes apparent that the 2014 Act reforms have to be considered within the wider context of all tribunal cases heard in Scotland. The structure of the Scottish...

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