AJC Working groups

The AJC currently has two Working Groups looking in detail at important issues affecting administrative justice. Both began their work in July 2026 and are expected to complete it by January 2028.

Reducing Tribunal Backlogs

This Working Group is investigating why tribunal backlogs arise, the effect that delays have on people using tribunals, and what could be done to reduce them. Its initial focus is on the SEND, Social Security and Child Support, and Immigration and Asylum tribunals.

The Group is looking at the causes of demand and delay at different stages, from the decisions made by public bodies and opportunities to resolve problems before they reach a tribunal, through to how cases are handled once they get there. It aims to identify practical ways to resolve problems earlier and reduce unnecessary delays, contributing to a fairer, more efficient and accessible justice system.

Data in the Administrative Justice System

This Working Group is looking at how better data can help us understand and improve administrative justice. It is examining what data is collected across tribunals, ombudsman schemes and organisations providing legal advice and representation, what this tells us about how the system is working and the people who use it, and where important data is missing, insufficient or difficult to access.

The Group aims to make practical recommendations about what data is needed, how it can be collected and made more useful and accessible, and how it can be used to identify problems, measure their impact and inform improvements across administrative justice.

The two groups will work closely together, ensuring that work to address demand and delay is informed by the best available evidence, while also identifying where better data is needed.

Previous working groups have included:

• Polluter Pays
• Ombudsman and Tribunals Familiarisation
• SEND and first instance decision-making
• Public Education
• Addressing disadvantaged people in the administrative justice system
• Digitisation and the tribunal user experience in the modernised tribunal service
  

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• Addressing disadvantaged people in the administrative justice system

  This working group was borne out of feedback from our Advice Sector Panel who reported an increasing number of frustrated and distressed users accessing the administrative justice system. Concerns were also raised about the negative effect such an increase was having on the wellbeing of those working within the system.    The group is chaired by […]

• Digitisation and the tribunal user experience in the modernised tribunal service

  Chaired by former Traffic Penalty Tribunal Chief Adjudicator, Caroline Sheppard OBE, this working group met for the first time in January 2023. The aim of the project is to review the ‘user experience’ of tribunal users in the light of His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Tribunals modernisation programme. The group will focus on […]

• Ombudsman and Tribunals Familiarisation

  An Ombudsman and Tribunals Familiarisation Working Group was set up in Spring 2019. The Working Group is exploring how the two sectors can work together more closely, from more effective signposting to encouraging sharing of best practice and learning between the sectors. The Working Group was Chaired by Donal Galligan, Director of the Ombudsman Association […]

• Polluter pays

  The Pro Bono Panel decided to undertake research on whether a “polluter pays” mechanism might be one of the ways of improving the incentives to address the two following issues: (a) improving the quality of first-instance decision making, and(b) improving state party compliance with tribunal rules and directions The panel undertook comparative research and reviewed […]

• Public Education

  This working group held its first meeting in October 2022. The goal of the project was to promote better awareness of young people’s rights and the routes to access and enforce them, and how best to do so across the UK. The working group explored opportunities to collaborate with existing school and youth resources, and […]

• SEND Local Authority Decision-Making

  The overall aim of the project was to understand the reasons for the high success rate of parents in proceedings before the SEND Tribunal and to formulate practical, cost-effective proposals to manage demand in the short/medium term, before the systemic reforms proposed in the SEND Green Paper have impact. The working group met for the […]