The new Charity Tribunal is to be restructured in April next year, and members of other tribunals including the Gambling Appeals Tribunal and the Consumer Credit Appeals Tribunal may be called upon to sit on it and hear charity sector cases.
The government is keen to replace the random collection of tribunals that have been created in recent years with a more coherent structure that provides a quicker and more efficient service to appellants.
It issued a consultation paper entitled Transforming Tribunals last November and published its response to the consultation in May. The official response does not mention the Charity Tribunal specifically, but the Tribunal’s new president, Alison McKenna, explained in a speech to the Charity Law Association earlier this month that all tribunals are to be rehoused within a new system comprising a first-tier Tribunal and an Upper Tribunal, both of which will be organised into eight administrative units known as ‘chambers’.
In April next year, the Charity Tribunal will transfer, along with various other tribunals, into the General Regulatory Chamber, within the first-tier Tribunal. The others will include the Immigration Services Tribunal, the Gambling Appeals Tribunal and the Consumer Credit Appeals Tribunal.
Sitting on other tribunals
Members of one tribunal may be “ticketed” to sit on more than one tribunal within their chamber, and even “assigned” to more than one chamber if they meet eligibility requirements and there is a business need for it. In her speech to the CLA, McKenna said that part of the eligibility requirement would be charity experience.
Most hearings will be held in the first-tier, with appeal to the Upper Tribunal on a point of law and then to the Court of Appeal. But the government is proposing that some tribunals may share first-instance jurisdiction between the first-tier and Upper Tribunal, so that some may start in the Upper Tribunal and process straight to the Court of Appeal if necessary. McKenna (pictured) is supporting this arrangement for the Charity Tribunal.
“My own view is that such an arrangement would suit the Charity Tribunal,” she said. “In cases where it was desirable to set a precedent, a layer could be missed out so that proceedings could be heard at first tinstance in a Court of Record. The flexibility to fast-track certain cases might be helpful.”
McKenna also said that the Tribunals Service target is for 75 per cent of cases to be completed and the judgement delivered within 30 weeks, but if all parties agree it should be possible to do it sooner.
“The Charity Tribunal has been resourced on the basis that we will have 50 cases a year, so unless we are deluged with cases we should be working within that target,” she added.
Specialist pro-bono advice unit
She added that she has had discussions with the Chancery Bar Association “which intends to set up a specialist panel for the Charity Tribunal at the Bar Pro Bono Unit”.
“I am acutely aware that some charities, would-be charities and individual charity trustees will be unable to afford legal advice and representation for bringing a case to the Tribunal,” she said. “I have yet to investigate other pro-bono networks but I am aware that they exist and they are on my ‘to-do’ list.”
