Page 93 - JUSTICE and AJC Report - Reforming Benefits Decision-Making

Chamber, tribunal caseworkers each have a judicial mentor and are co-located
with judges wherever possible.

3.40 The tribunal casework structure has recently been updated and formalised
with the creation of opportunities for career progression. Previously tribunal
caseworkers sat within the administration structure of HMCTS. However,
they have recently moved into the Legal Operations side. This means that
tribunal caseworkers report to senior caseworkers who are allocated to a
region and manage caseworkers for all jurisdictions (not just social security)
within the region. The senior caseworkers are managed by legal team
managers, who are solicitors or barristers. A new Senior Legal Manager
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position sits above the legal team managers. This means that there is always
legal oversight of the work of tribunal caseworkers.

3.41 Tribunal caseworkers already perform a variety of important tasks in the FTT
(SSCS). This varies between regions and depends on the experience of
individual caseworkers but includes dealing with requests for postponements
and extensions of time, checking the validity of appeals, contacting parties
where there is no response and issuing listing and case management
directions. However, we believe that greater use could be made of tribunal
caseworkers, in particular with the goal of reducing postponements and
adjournments.
255

3.42 The FTT (SSCS) has a large number of adjournments. In 2020/21 it had
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33,325 adjournments, accounting for 27 per cent of its listed hearings. Our
judicial working party members and other judges told us that adjournments
could happen for a variety of reasons including the appellant requiring more
time, practical reasons such as the appellant having a doctor’s appointment or
wanting to get advice. However, many are also caused by missing
information, for example medical evidence or a health and disability

254 Tribunal caseworkers do not need to be legally qualified.

255 Regulation 51(3) and (4) Social Security (Decisions & Appeals) Regulations 1999 distinguishes
between postponements which are made any time before the beginning of the hearing and
adjournments which are made once a hearing has started.
256 Ministry of Justice, ‘Tribunal Statistics Quarterly’ (see n. 33 above), Table APJ_1.

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