Online appeals resolution

New report by Joshua Rozenberg looking at the introduction on the online court and whether it will work…

HMCTS blog on the pilot of tribunal video hearings and how to increase their use -

Since March 2018, we have been piloting the use of fully video hearings in the tax tribunal, and using this to understand better how we can introduce this more widely as part of a more accessible and efficient service. Our latest blog explores video hearings in more detail.

From the Law Society Gazette -

Remote online hearings of social security appeals at the First Tier tribunal will begin this autumn in the next phase of courts modernisation, the senior president of tribunals has revealed.

In a speech to the Administrative Law Bar Association published by the judiciary today, The Rt Hon Sir Ernest Ryder said that the tribunal would pilot ‘asynchronous conversations so that we can conduct some live hearings without the need for a disabled user to face a difficult journey to a hearing room’.

Evidence will also be shared digitally with the Department for Work and Pensions, he said.

Source: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/online-hearings-for-social-security-appeals-this-autumn/5067205.article

Sir Ernest Ryder’s speech is available here: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/spt-speech-alba-lecture-july-2018.pdf

The Law Society Gazette goes behind the scenes at a video linked social security appeal hearing -

A frail, visibly shaking, grandmother enters the room and is ushered towards a desk positioned in front of a large television screen. Once she sits, she can see more clearly three individuals sitting in an office almost 200 miles away. They are watching her. It is here she will try to persuade the panel that she should be eligible for disability benefits…

The impersonal nature of this video hearing and the remoteness of the judges will be of concern to anyone with a sense of justice and fairness. But the alternative, for a woman unable to walk unaided, is a 30-mile trip to her nearest court. This scenario, for all its faults, is the best she can hope for.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/news-focus-justice-goes-the-distance-in-anglesey/5067495.article

Had an email through this morning and it looks like the North East along with Yorkshire/Humber can now submit PIP appeals online via gov.uk. Letter attached.

Anyone from the existing pilot areas able to comment on how well (or not) the system works? I had a play when it first launched and it seemed quite good but, of course, I wasn’t able to actually submit an appeal as I was out of the pilot area.

South West and Wales too from today Re: PIP! See extract of email below and attached.

Subject: Social Security & Child Support Appeals -Submit Your PIP Appeal online

Dear Tribunal User,

Please find attached a letter from Daniel Flury, Deputy Director of Tribunals in HMCTS regarding rollout of the online service available to PIP appellants in Wales and South West England which will allow them to submit their appeal online.

The letter also provides the new link to the Submit Your Appeal service which has now gone live.

Contact/enquiry details are provided in the letter.

Yours sincerely,

SSCS Reform Project

Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service

Web: http://www.gov.uk/hmcts

CHAC Adviser - 24 September 2018 01:18 PM

Had an email through this morning and it looks like the North East along with Yorkshire/Humber can now submit PIP appeals online via gov.uk. Letter attached.

Anyone from the existing pilot areas able to comment on how well (or not) the system works? I had a play when it first launched and it seemed quite good but, of course, I wasn’t able to actually submit an appeal as I was out of the pilot area.

One of workers has tried it:
- seems very easy to use
- there is an offer to upload supporting documents (doesn’t seem to require a copy of the MR Notice though?)
- when you click submit, you immediately get an SMS confirmation, and a link to track your appeal
- there is no obvious option to save a copy of your grounds of appeal, so it’s too easy to submit an appeal without retaining what you’ve done.

HMCTS has announced roll out of online PIP appeals service across England and Wales (although online appeals service page is currently showing as ‘under maintenance’...

stuart - 29 November 2018 02:56 PM

HMCTS has announced roll out of online PIP appeals service across England and Wales (although online appeals service page is currently showing as ‘under maintenance’...

seems to be live now

An article out today in Legal Futures includes this:

“Wrapping up this week’s International Online Court Forum in London, Sir Ernest highlighted three projects he was involved in.

The first was “continuous online resolution” in the social security tribunal, involving “asynchronous” online conversations between the judge and the parties.

He explained: “We will use this to identify issues, signpost agreements and settlement opportunities wherever possible, without the seriously disabled user having to travel to a court building if we can avoid it, and ultimately to make a decision online where that is possible and appropriate.”

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/employment-tribunals-set-for-online-justice-pilot

Jo Chimes - 06 December 2018 02:34 PM

An article out today in Legal Futures includes this:

“Wrapping up this week’s International Online Court Forum in London, Sir Ernest highlighted three projects he was involved in.

The first was “continuous online resolution” in the social security tribunal, involving “asynchronous” online conversations between the judge and the parties.

He explained: “We will use this to identify issues, signpost agreements and settlement opportunities wherever possible, without the seriously disabled user having to travel to a court building if we can avoid it, and ultimately to make a decision online where that is possible and appropriate.”

https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/employment-tribunals-set-for-online-justice-pilot

Here’s a link to Sir Ernest’s speech
https://www.judiciary.uk/announcements/speech-by-sir-ernest-ryder-first-international-forum-on-online-courts/

... and some other resources and comment on the online courts forum -
- The price of online courts from Steve Hynes at LAG
- ODR and the courts… Roger Smith Law Tech A2J
- International forum on online courts, 3 and 4 December 2018 from gov.uk

Does anyone know if this is this just an online submission process or does it mean that appellants using this route will be assumed to have agreed to an online tribunal hearing once HMCTS gets these up and running for PIP?

Pernish - 07 January 2019 06:03 PM

Does anyone know if this is this just an online submission process or does it mean that appellants using this route will be assumed to have agreed to an online tribunal hearing once HMCTS gets these up and running for PIP?

This letter to tribunal users indicates that online resolution will only be used in cases deemed suitable. Also speech from Tribunal President - covered in rightsnet news Destination of HMCTS reform programme is the creation of a single web-based system, leading to e-filing and management says account will always be taken of users’ needs.

Meanwhile, HMCTS has given an update on general progress of the online justice reforms (which notes 3,300 online PIP appeals so far) - see the HMCTS press release from 4 January.

It appears when I was checking the online process for lodging a PIP appeal today that it is possible to lodge an ESA appeal online, although I do not know when this happened and I could not find reference to it in this discussion thread or in the news section (although I may have missed it). Could someone tell me when this change happened? I am aware that the PIP online appeals came in Uk wide in Novemeber 2018.
Thanks

ESA appeals went live in our area somewhere between the 8th and 17th January 2018.

A colleague tried it on the 8th but realised it was only a paper form at that time.

I successfully lodged one on 17th January 2018.