We have continued to collaborate with HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) in our work ensuring that accessible and easy-to-understand information is available to lay court users, as recommended in Understanding Courts (2019) and Immigration and Asylum Appeals – a Fresh Look (2018). We previously updated members on the successful incorporation of JUSTICE suggestions into a HMCTS video aimed at explaining the process of video hearings.
We recently called for the updating of the “Who’s Who” poster in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (IAC). This poster was originally designed to be displayed in all IAC tribunal buildings, its purpose being to explain who is present at a hearing and their roles. With a majority of hearings in the IAC now taking place with some remote element (entirely remote or “hybrid”) the posters in tribunal buildings were of no use, whilst the experience of the lay user became even more isolated.
We worked with HMCTS and the judiciary to update the graphics to include video, telephone and “hybrid” hearing information, and updated the text to ensure the information was simple to understand. These updated posters are now being sent to all unrepresented litigants, by post or email, and a link to them has been added to the official “user guide” for the first-tier tribunal of the IAC.
The poster can be found here.