Concerns and complaints about coroners
The coroner service is delivered locally, with each coroner area funded and administered by its relevant local authority. Coroners, like all judicial office holders, are independent in their decision-making. As a result, the Chief Coroner has no authority to review, investigate, comment on, or intervene in the judicial decisions of individual coroners, nor in the management of individual cases.
The Chief Coroner is unable to investigate complaints relating to the personal conduct of a coroner or any other judicial office holder. As with all judges, matters concerning personal conduct fall within the remit of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO). Information about the complaints process and how to make a complaint is available via the JCIO website (external link).
Parliament has not established a statutory right of appeal against coroner decisions, and there is no right of appeal to the Chief Coroner. Challenges to a coroner’s judicial decisions can only be brought by way of judicial review in the High Court. Judicial review allows a senior judge to consider whether a decision was made lawfully. It is concerned with the decision-making process rather than whether the decision itself was right or wrong. In most cases, an application for judicial review must be made within three months of the decision being challenged. Read more information on judicial review (external link).
If you are considering this course of action, you may wish to seek independent legal advice.