A New Tribunal System for Wales: white paper - Annex 2: Law Commission recommendations

Recommendation 1

We recommend that the tribunals listed in section 59 of the Wales Act 2017 should be replaced by a single First-tier Tribunal for Wales, which may then be subdivided into chambers.

Recommendation 2

We recommend that chambers of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales should be led by chamber Presidents, supported by Deputy Presidents where necessary.

Recommendation 3

We recommend that the Welsh Ministers should be empowered to subdivide the First-tier Tribunal for Wales into chambers, and to allocate work to those chambers, by way of secondary legislation made with the concurrence of the President of Welsh Tribunals.

Recommendation 4

We recommend that the jurisdictions of the Valuation Tribunal for Wales should be transferred to a new Valuation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 5

We recommend that school exclusion appeals should be transferred to the Education Chamber of a First-tier Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 6

We recommend that school admission appeal panels in Wales should continue to be administered by admission authorities.

Recommendation 7

We recommend that social care appeal panels should continue to be administered by Social Care Wales.

Recommendation 8

We recommend that the Welsh Ministers exercise their power to create chambers of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales so as to form an Education Chamber to exercise the jurisdictions of the Registered School Inspectors Appeal Tribunal, the Registered Nursery Education Inspectors Appeal Tribunal and the Education Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 9

We recommend that the Welsh Ministers exercise their power to create chambers of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales so as to form a Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales to exercise the jurisdictions of the Agricultural Land Tribunal for Wales and Residential Property Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 10

We recommend that the Welsh Government should keep the organisation of chambers of First-tier Tribunal for Wales, including the possible creation of a General Regulatory Chamber, under review as new tribunal jurisdictions are created.

Recommendation 11

We recommend that legislation should create an Appeal Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 12

We recommend that the Welsh Ministers should have power by statutory instrument to establish chambers of the Appeal Tribunal and to transfer appellate jurisdiction to it.

Recommendation 13

We recommend that the Appeal Tribunal for Wales should, in the absence of positive reason for different provision, be the appeal venue for appeals from the First-tier Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 14

We recommend that appeals from rent assessment committees should require permission.

Recommendation 15

We recommend that appeals from school admission appeals panels should be available on a point of law to the Education Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 16

We recommend that onward appeals from decisions of the Education Chamber on appeals from school admission appeals panels should be limited to cases which raise some important point of principle or practice, or where there is some other compelling reason to hear the appeal.

Recommendation 17

We recommend that the President of Welsh Tribunals should be a judge of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales and the Appeal Tribunal for Wales. Provision for the President of Welsh Tribunals to sit should be made in procedural rules or directions.

Recommendation 18

We recommend that the President of Welsh Tribunals should be the presiding judge of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales and the Appeal Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 19

We recommend that the Welsh Government should consult with the President of Welsh Tribunals on the School Admissions Appeal Code pursuant to section 85(2) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Recommendation 20

If the Valuation Tribunal for Wales remains outside the unified system of tribunals, it should nonetheless be subject to the supervision of the President of Welsh Tribunals.

Recommendation 21

We recommend that there should be a Tribunal Procedure Committee for Wales.

Recommendation 22

We recommend that the Tribunal Procedure Committee for Wales should be able to establish sub-groups to focus on particular areas of work.

Recommendation 23

We recommend that the President of Welsh Tribunals should be responsible for chairing the Tribunal Procedure Committee for Wales and appointing its members.

Recommendation 24

We recommend that the President of Welsh Tribunals, when appointing members of a Tribunal Procedure Committee for Wales, should have regard to factors set out in legislation, including the need for: 

1. the interests of each Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales and, in due course, the Appeal Tribunal for Wales to be represented
2. the committee to have access to persons with relevant expertise, and 
3. the committee to include persons who have experience of appearing in front of the tribunal or advising those that do.

Recommendation 25

We recommend that the rules be made by the President of Welsh Tribunals, in a form agreed by a majority of the Tribunal Procedure Committee, subject to their being approved by the Welsh Ministers.

Recommendation 26

We recommend that the Tribunal Procedure Committee for Wales should consult with whomever it considers appropriate (including members of the tribunal, members of the broader judiciary, practitioners and tribunal users) before making the rules.

Recommendation 27

The Tribunal Procedure Committee for Wales should adopt common procedural rules across the tribunals as far as is appropriate.

Recommendation 28

There should be a set of procedural rules for each chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales and for the Appeal Tribunal for Wales. If the Appeal Tribunal for Wales is divided into chambers, the Tribunal Procedure Committee for Wales should consider whether to make a separate set of rules for each chamber.

Recommendation 29

We recommend that the Tribunal Procedure Committee for Wales should be required by legislation to have regard to the desirability of consistency within the procedural rules of the devolved tribunals and between them and those of other courts and tribunals in the UK.

Recommendation 30

The procedural rules of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales and the Appeal Tribunal for Wales should include:

1. an overriding objective
2. a duty of the parties to cooperate with each other and the tribunal
3. provision for service of documents by electronic means
4. a power for the First-tier Tribunal to review its own decisions, and
5. rules on remote hearings.

Recommendation 31

We recommend that members of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales should be appointed by the President of Welsh Tribunals.

Recommendation 32

We recommend that Presidents and any Deputy Presidents of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales should be appointed by the Welsh Ministers, with the agreement of the President of Welsh Tribunals.

Recommendation 33

We recommend that members of the Appeal Tribunal for Wales should be appointed by the Welsh Ministers, with the agreement of the President of Welsh Tribunals.

Recommendation 34

We recommend that members of the Valuation Tribunal for Wales should be appointed by the President of Welsh Tribunals.

Recommendation 35

We recommend that the President and any Deputy President of the Valuation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales should be appointed by the Welsh Ministers, with the agreement of the President of Welsh Tribunals.

Recommendation 36

We recommend that the Judicial Appointments Commission should select candidates for all appointments to the First-tier Tribunal for Wales and Appeal Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 37

We recommend that the Judicial Appointments Commission should select candidates for all appointments to the Valuation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 38

We recommend that a standard complaints policy should apply to all chambers of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales, allowing for variations for individual chambers where necessary.

Recommendation 39

We recommend that the complaints policy applying to the First-tier Tribunal for Wales should be available both online and in hard copy on request.

Recommendation 40

We recommend that there should be a uniform procedure for complaints about the administration of the Tribunals Service for Wales.

Recommendation 41

We recommend that there should be a uniform procedure for complaints about the conduct of members, Presidents and Deputy Presidents of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 42

We recommend that complaints about the conduct of tribunal members of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales are investigated by the relevant Chamber President.

Recommendation 43

We recommend that complaints about the conduct of Chamber Presidents and Deputy Presidents of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales are investigated by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.

Recommendation 44

We recommend that complaints about the conduct of members of the Appeal Tribunal for Wales are investigated by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.

Recommendation 45

We recommend that the President of Welsh Tribunals should have the power to discipline and dismiss members of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 46

We recommend that the President of Welsh Tribunals should have the power to discipline and dismiss members of the Valuation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales.

Recommendation 47

We recommend that the President of Welsh Tribunals should have the power to discipline and dismiss Presidents and Deputy Presidents of chambers of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales, with the concurrence of the Welsh Ministers.

Recommendation 48

We recommend that the President of Welsh Tribunals should have the power to discipline and dismiss the President of the Valuation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales, with the concurrence of the Welsh Ministers.

Recommendation 49

We recommend that the First Minister should have power to dismiss judges of the Appeal Tribunal for Wales. Sanctions falling short of dismissal should be imposed by the First Minister with the concurrence of the President of Welsh Tribunals.

Recommendation 50

We recommend that the School Admissions Appeal Code should provide for complaints about the conduct of members of school admission appeal panels.

Recommendation 51

We recommend the establishment of a Tribunals Service for Wales as a non-ministerial department.

Recommendation 52

We recommend that the Welsh Ministers and others responsible for the administration of justice in Wales should be subject to a statutory duty to uphold the independence of the devolved tribunals.

Recommendation 53

We recommend that all members of the First-tier Tribunal for Wales (including Chamber Presidents and Deputy Presidents) and members of the Appeal Tribunal for Wales should be required to take a judicial oath or affirmation.