Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
2007 CHAPTER 15
Part 1: Tribunals and Inquiries
Commentary on Sections: Part 1
Section 4 and Schedule 2: Judges and other members of the First-tier Tribunal
53.Section 4 and Schedule 2 set out provisions relating to judges and other members of the First-tier Tribunal.
54.Section 4 lists those persons who are to be the judges and other members of the First-tier Tribunal.
55.At present most tribunals include legally qualified members and members without a legal qualification. The qualification requirements which apply to the lawyers, who often chair the tribunal hearing a case, are varied. The range of non-legal members is very wide and includes members such as medical practitioners, accountants, people with experience of disability issues, people with experience of the armed services and so-called “lay” members. This structure will continue in the new tribunals, with the legally qualified members of the First-tier Tribunal being called judges of the First-tier Tribunal.
56.Judges and other members of the new tribunals will either be transferred in from existing tribunals, be appointed as such (“appointed judges/members”), or hold their office in the First-tier Tribunal by virtue of another office which they hold. So, for example, a circuit judge will automatically be a member of each of the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal (by virtue of sections 4(1)(c), 5(1)(g) and 6). This will enable judges who have the appropriate expertise and experience, from holding judicial office in courts or other tribunals, to be brought into the new tribunals to help to deal with the tribunals’ work. Similarly, some members of other tribunals without legal qualifications will automatically be members of the new tribunals. The same principle will apply within the structure of the new tribunals, so that, for example, a judge of the Upper Tribunal will automatically be a judge of the First-tier Tribunal (section 4(1)(c)).
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