"Tribunals deal with about 1million cases a year, on a huge variety of issues such as disputes over tax, pensions or immigration."
Tribunals service
On 3 April the Tribunals Service was created. It comprises the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Tribunals plus five other non-devolved central government tribunals.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) already has responsibility for some sixteen of the largest tribunals including the Asylum and Tax tribunals together with a number of smaller ones. By 2008 the Employment Tribunal Service, The Appeals Service, Mental Health Review Tribunals, Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal and Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel will transfer to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) from their current sponsoring departments.
Other smaller central government tribunals will join the Service at a later stage.
The new Service will be an executive agency within Ministry of Justice (MoJ). It will reflect the needs and specialisms of individual jurisdictions and will in particular respect the differences between party vs. party tribunals (such as the Employment Tribunals) and those hearing disputes between citizen vs. state (on matters such as social security).
Tribunals judiciary are, like other judges, independent so whilst the creation of the Tribunals Service will bring about greater administrative cohesion, the existing independence of the tribunals judiciary will be preserved.