The Tribunal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2015

Citation and commencement

1.  These Rules may be cited as the Tribunal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2015 and come into force on 21st August 2015.

Amendments to the Upper Tribunal Rules 2008

2.  The Upper Tribunal Rules 2008(1) are amended as follows.

3.  In rule 1(3) (definitions)—

(a) after the definition of “practice direction” insert—

““QCS Board” means a Board constituted under Part 2 of the Transport Act 2000(2);

“quality contracts scheme” has the meaning provided for in section 124(3) (quality contracts scheme) of the Transport Act 2000(3);

“quality contracts scheme case” means proceedings in the Upper Tribunal under Part 2 of the Transport Act 2000;”;

(b) in the definition of “special educational needs case”(4), after paragraph (a) omit “or” and insert—

“(aa) a detained person’s EHC needs assessment within the meaning of section 70(5) of the Children and Families Act 2014(5); or”

4.  In rule 23 (notice of appeal)(6)—

(a) for paragraph (2)(b) substitute—

“(b) if permission to appeal is not required, the date on which notice of decision to which the appeal relates—

(i) was sent to the appellant; or

(ii) in a quality contracts scheme case, if the notice was not sent to the appellant, the date on which the notice was published in a newspaper in accordance with the requirement of section 125 (notice and consultation requirements) of the Transport Act 2000(7).”;

(b) after paragraph (6) insert—

“(7) Paragraph (6)(a) does not apply in a quality contracts scheme case, in respect of which Schedule A1 makes alternative and further provision.”

5.  In rule 24 (response to the notice of appeal)(8)—

(a) after paragraph (2)(aa) insert—

“(ab) in a quality contracts scheme case, no later than 1 month after the date on which a copy of the notice of appeal is sent to the respondent;”

(b) after paragraph (5) insert—

“(6) Paragraph (5) does not apply in a quality contracts scheme case, in respect of which Schedule A1 makes alternative and further provision.”

6.  In rule 25 (appellant’s reply)(9)—

(a) after paragraph (2A) insert—

“(2B) In a quality contracts scheme case, the time limit in paragraph (2) is 1 month from the date on which the respondent sent a copy of the response to the appellant.”;

(b) after paragraph (3) insert—

“(4) Paragraph (3) does not apply in a quality contracts scheme case, in respect of which Schedule A1 makes alternative and further provision.”

7.  Before Schedule 1 (procedure after the notice of appeal in road transport cases)(10) insert—

Rule 23

“SCHEDULE A1 Procedure in Quality Contracts Scheme cases

1.   This Schedule applies to quality contracts scheme cases.

Notice of appeal

2.   The appellant must send or deliver to the Upper Tribunal the notice of appeal together with the following materials —

(a) a copy of the notice of the decision being challenged;

(b) a copy of any separate written statement of reasons;

(c) copies of the most significant documents (or relevant extracts) on which the appellant relies in support of the grounds stated in its notice of appeal, including—

(i) the quality contracts scheme (or relevant extracts); and

(ii) any report of the QCS Board (or relevant extracts); and

(d) a list of the materials referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) and where such materials may be accessed (e.g. link to internet webpage).

3.   The appellant must, at the same time as sending its notice of appeal to the Upper Tribunal in accordance with paragraph 2, send a copy of the notice of appeal and of the additional materials to the respondent.

4.   The Upper Tribunal must send a copy of the notice of appeal and a copy of the list referred to in paragraph 2(d) to the appropriate national authority.

5.   The Upper Tribunal may, upon receipt of the notice of appeal, direct the respondent to—

(a) give notice in at least one newspaper circulating in the area to which the scheme relates that a notice of appeal has been received;

(b) give written notice to the persons consulted under section 125(3) (notice and consultation requirements) of the Transport Act 2000 and (if the case may be) those not consulted under section 125(3) but who in the opinion of the QCS Board, under section 126D(1)(b) (consideration of proposed schemes by boards) of that Act, ought to have been so consulted, that a notice of appeal has been received;

(c) make arrangements for a place or website where copies of the notice of appeal and any response or reply and in each case their accompanying documents may be inspected;

(d) ensure that each notice provided for in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) states—

(i) where copies of the notice of appeal and other documents relating to the proceedings may be inspected; and

(ii) where information about the procedure for applying to be added as a party may be found.

Response to the notice of appeal

6.   A respondent must send or deliver to the Upper Tribunal its response to the notice of appeal together with the following materials —

(a) a copy of the most significant documents (or relevant extracts) on which the respondent relies in support of the response;

(b) a list of those documents.

7.   The respondent must, at the same time as providing its response to the Upper Tribunal in accordance with paragraph 6, provide copies of that response and of those materials to—

(a) the appellant; and

(b) the appropriate national authority.

8.   Any directions given by the Upper Tribunal to the respondent under paragraph 5 are also to be regarded as directions to the respondent to make available for inspection copies of its response and accompanying materials.

Appellant’s reply

9.   The appellant must send or deliver to the Upper Tribunal its reply (if any) to a response under paragraph 6 together with the following materials—

(a) a copy of any additional documents (or relevant extracts) relied on in support of the reply;

(b) a list of those documents.

10.   The appellant must, at the same time as providing its reply to the Upper Tribunal in accordance with paragraph 9, provide a copy of that reply and of those materials to the respondent.

11.   The Upper Tribunal must send a copy of the appellant’s reply and a copy of the list of documents referred to in paragraph 9(b) to the appropriate national authority.

12.   Any directions given by the Upper Tribunal to the respondent under paragraph 5 are also to be regarded as directions to the respondent to make available for inspection copies of the appellant’s reply and accompanying materials.

Adding further parties

13.   Any person who wishes to be added as a party to the proceedings, and has given notice to the respondent that they received the notice of the appeal in consequence of a direction made under paragraph 5, must apply to the Upper Tribunal in accordance with rule 9 within 1 month of the date on which they received notice of the appeal.

14.   Any application to be added as a party must state—

(a) the name and address of the person making the application;

(b) the name and address of the representative (if any) of that person;

(c) an address where documents for that person may be sent or delivered;

(d) whether or not copies of the notice of appeal, any response and any reply has been inspected, along with their accompanying documents;

(e) whether the person making the application supports or opposes the appeal; and

(f) the grounds relied upon for adding the person as a party.

15.   The person making the application must provide the following materials with the application—

(a) a copy of the most significant documents (or relevant extracts) on which the person relies in support of the application, if not already listed by a party; and

(b) a list of the documents referred to in sub-paragraph (a).

16.   The Upper Tribunal must notify the parties of any application to be joined as a party and send a copy of the list of documents with the notification.

17.   The Upper Tribunal may give further directions relating to any application to be added as a party and generally as to the conduct of the case.”

Amendments to the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008

8.  The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008(11) are amended as follows.

9.  In rule 1(3) (definitions)(12)—

(a) in the definition of “respondent”—

(i) for paragraph (a) substitute—

“(a) in an appeal against an order made by a justice of the peace, the person who applied to the justice of the peace for the order;”;

(ii) for paragraph (c) substitute—

“(c) in proceedings on a claim brought under paragraph 3 of Schedule 17 to the Equality Act 2010(13) (disabled pupils: enforcement)—

(i) the local authority or the governing body, where the school concerned is a maintained school;

(ii) the proprietor, where the school concerned is an independent school;”

(iii) omit paragraph (d);

(b) in the definition of “special educational needs case”, after paragraph (a) omit “or” and insert—

“(aa) a detained person’s EHC needs assessment within the meaning of section 70(5) of the Children and Families Act 2014(14), or”.

10.  In rule 19 (application for leave)(15), in paragraph (1)(b), for the words from “by virtue of regulation 34(3)” to the end substitute—

“by virtue of—

(i) regulation 34(3) of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014(16), or

(ii) regulation 20(3) of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Detained Persons) Regulations 2015(17),

(appeals in a special educational needs case in the absence of a mediation certificate).”

Amendments to the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Social Entitlement Chamber) Rules 2008

11.  The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Social Entitlement Chamber) Rules 2008(18) are amended as follows.

12.  In rule 1(3) (definitions), in the definition of “respondent”, after paragraph (c), omit “or” and insert—

“(cc) an affected party within the meaning of section 61(5) of the Childcare Payments Act 2014(19), other than an appellant; or”.

13.  In rule 5 (case management powers), omit paragraph (3)(aa)(20).

14.  In rule 17 (withdrawal) for paragraphs (4) and (5) substitute—

“(4) An application for a withdrawn case to be reinstated may be made by—

(a) the party who withdrew the case;

(b) where an appeal in a social security and child support case has been withdrawn, a respondent.

(5) An application under paragraph (4) must be made in writing and be received by the Tribunal within 1 month after the earlier of—

(a) the date on which the applicant was sent notice under paragraph (6) that the withdrawal had taken effect; or

(b) if the applicant was present at the hearing when the case was withdrawn orally under paragraph (1)(b), the date of that hearing.”.

15.  In rule 22 (cases in which the notice of appeal is to be sent to the Tribunal)—

(a) in paragraph (2)(d)(ii) for “(time specified for providing notice of appeal)” substitute “(time limits for providing notices of appeal in social security and child support cases where mandatory reconsideration does not apply)”;

(b) after paragraph (7), insert—

“(7A) Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs must, upon receipt of the notice of appeal from the Tribunal under the Childcare Payments Act 2014, inform the Tribunal whether there are any affected parties within the meaning of section 61(5) of that Act other than the appellant and, if so, provide their names and addresses.”;

(c) for paragraph (9) substitute—

“(9) For the purposes of this rule, mandatory reconsideration applies where—

(a) the notice of the decision being challenged includes a statement to the effect that there is a right of appeal in relation to the decision only if the decision-maker has considered an application for the revision, reversal, review or reconsideration (as the case may be) of the decision being challenged; or

(b) the appeal is brought against a decision made by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.”.

16.  In rule 23 (cases in which the notice of appeal is to be sent to the decision maker)—

(a) in paragraph (1) for the words from “social security” to the end of the paragraph, substitute “appeals under paragraph 6 of Schedule 7 to the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000(21) (housing benefit and council tax benefit: revisions and appeals) or under section 22 of the Child Trust Funds Act 2004(22)”;

(b) in paragraph (2) for the words “within the time specified in Schedule 1 to these Rules (time limits for providing notices of appeal to the decision maker)”, substitute—

“no later than the latest of—

(a) in a housing benefit or council tax benefit case—

(i) one month after the date on which notice of the decision being challenged was sent to the appellant;

(ii) if a written statement of reasons for the decision was requested within that month, 14 days after the later of—

(aa) the end of that month; or

(ab) the date on which the written statement of reasons was provided; or

(iii) if the appellant made an application for revision of the decision under regulation 4(1)(a) of the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2001(23) and that application was unsuccessful, one month after the date on which notice that the decision would not be revised was sent to the appellant;

(b) in an appeal under section 22 of the Child Trust Funds Act 2004, the period of 30 days specified in section 23(1) of that Act(24).”;

(c) in paragraph (3), for “paragraph (2)”, substitute “paragraph (2)(a)”;

(d) in each of paragraphs (4), (5) and (7)(a) and (b), for “Schedule 1” substitute “paragraph (2)”;

(e) in paragraph (8) omit “or (aa)”.

17.  For Schedule 1 substitute the Schedule contained in the Schedule to these Rules.

Saving provision

18.  The amendments made by rules 16 and 17 have no effect in relation to any appeal against a decision made before 6th April 2014 where the decision maker was Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

We make these Rules

Brian F J Langstaff

Philip Brook Smith QC

Michael J Reed

Simon Ennals

W B Thompson

Jayam Dalal

7th July 2015

I allow these Rules

Shailesh Vara

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department

8th July 2015