Digitalisation of the justice system consultation – Inclusion London responded

Our response focused on the needs of Deaf and Disabled people and the digitalisation of welfare benefit appeals and tribunal hearings. However, the points we raised regarding Deaf and Disabled people’s access needs are relevant to other forms of tribunals such as employment tribunals as well as family, civil and criminal law proceedings.

Inclusion London responded to the ‘Transforming our Justice System: assisted digital strategy’ consultation.

In our response we made the following recommends:

That the option of paper communications and face to face tribunals are retained for Deaf and Disabled people as a reasonable adjustment when needed, especially for welfare benefit tribunals for the following reasons:

  • Deaf and Disabled people have already experience the injustice of inaccurate assessment for welfare benefits such as PIP and ESA; we recommend that the MoJ does not compound this by creating an inaccessible digital tribunal system.
  • The government has a very poor record regarding reasonable adjustments for Deaf and Disabled people and the risk that the welfare benefits appeals system including tribunals will become inaccessible is too high, as it will leave Disabled people unable to cover basic living costs.
  • Even with support some Deaf and Disabled people will not be able to access a digital tribunal hearing, so face to face tribunals will still be necessary.
  • The UN CESCR has called for action from the government regarding changes to legal aid to ensure that there access to justice particularly for ‘disadvantaged and marginalized groups,’[1] it is important that this is not compounded by an inaccessible tribunal system.
  • The UN CESCR has raised concerns regarding the Welfare Reform Act 2012[2] and it is important that further reasons for concern are not created by a lack of access to welfare benefit tribunals, which could further erode Deaf and Disabled people’s access to justice and mar the justice system’s reputation.
  • Previous government IT projects have been costly and inefficient and have not always delivered. There is a risk that the MoJ is underestimating the cost of this project and will be unable to deliver the reasonable adjustments needed to make the tribunal system accessible to Deaf and Disabled people.

 

Inclusion London’s full response is available to download below:

transforming-the-justice-system-digital-consultation-inclusion-londons-response-2016

 

 

[1] DOC]Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of the United …

tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/…/E_C-12_GBR_CO_6_24399_E.docx

[2] DOC]Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of the United …

tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/…/E_C-12_GBR_CO_6_24399_E.docx