Guidance note from the President of the Upper Tribunal’s Administrative Appeals Chamber: using CE File

Administrative Appeals Chamber (Upper Tribunal)Practice Guidance

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Dame Judith Farbey, Chamber President of the Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber, has issued guidance on the electronic filing of documents online (CE-File).

CE-File is the online system for filing documents electronically at the Chamber. It is also a database that enables Tribunal users to access their cases.

  1. CE-File is the online system for filing documents electronically at the Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber (“the Tribunal”). It is also a database that enables Tribunal users to access their cases.
  2. It is now a permitted method for sending and delivering documents to the Tribunal for the purpose of rule 13(1)(c) of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008 (SI 2008/2698, “the Upper Tribunal Rules”).
  3. Since CE-File became operational for internal purposes in August 2021, all new applications and appeals (other than in Scotland) have been assigned a CE-File reference number in the format UA-yyyy-xxxxxx-zzz (where yyyy is the year, xxxxxx represents the file number and zzz a suffix indicating the subject matter). Appeals in Scotland are assigned a reference number in the format: UA-yyyy- SCO-xxxxxx-zzz.
  4. For proceedings commenced on or after 7 March 2022, any party or their representative may use CE-File to make applications and appeals and provide documents to the Tribunal. To do so, they must first register, as is explained at [9] below. Parties and representatives may also use it in other proceedings where the Tribunal has provided a CE-File reference in the format UA-yyyy xxxxxx-zzz.
  5. Professional representatives are strongly encouraged to use CE-File tocommence new cases or deliver documents to the Tribunal. In due course, its use may become mandatory so professional representatives are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the system as soon as possible.
  6. Litigants in person (unrepresented parties) may also use CE-File, but the Tribunal will continue to accept documents from all users by post, DX, fax, email or by hand. As use of CE-File relies on scanned documents, unrepresented users may prefer to continue to use other methods e.g. post and will not be disadvantaged by doing so.
  7. CE-File has size limits. Parties or representatives may use CE-File to lodge electronic bundles if the size limit (currently 50MB) allows but, if it is appropriate in any particular case to lodge a larger bundle, they will need to use other means (e.g. the Tribunal’s Document Upload Centre) to file the bundle.
  8. It remains the case that fees are not payable in proceedings in the Tribunal.Registering for and using CE-File


  9. To use CE-File, users must first register as an E-Filer. This will allow users to file documents electronically. To register or log in and file a document using CE-File, a party or representative should follow these 4 steps:
    (a) access the CE-File website address: https://efile.cefile-app.com/login;
    (b) log on to an existing account or register for an account by following the ‘Register as an E-Filer’ link at the bottom of the landing page;
    (c) enter details of a new case or use the details of an existing case (select ‘Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber)’ from the ‘Courts’ menu and then select whether this is a filing for a ‘New Case’ or an ’Existing Case’);
    (d) upload the appropriate document (explain what is being filed and upload the claim/application form or documents in Microsoft Word or PDF format).
    Once a filing in a new case is accepted, a case number will be created and users will be notified of it in CE-File and via email. In CE-File this will appear in the top right corner of the screen.

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