‘Transforming our Justice System: panel composition in tribunals’ consultation – Inclusion London response
In our response we strongly opposed the proposal to only provide a tribunal panel consisting of a single member/a judge, particularly for welfare benefit tribunals.
Inclusion London responded to the ‘Transforming our Justice System: panel composition in tribunals’ consultation. The response focused on the impact of the proposed reforms on Deaf and Disabled people.
For a tribunal to be fair and just for Deaf and Disabled people knowledge of the impact of different impairments or long term health conditions on daily life and the ability to work is needed. A judge will not have the necessary knowledge that a medical expert such as a GP does. Also a judge will not know the impact of an impairment or health condition on daily life or the ability to work, which Deaf and Disabled people ‘experts by experience’ understand. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for a medical expert such as a GP and a Disabled person to sit on the tribunal panel with the judge as ‘Disability Qualified Panel Members’, (DQPM).
Without the expertise of a medical professional and a Disabled expert by experience, a judge will be left in the position of using a medical dictionary to find information about different long term health conditions or impairments and left guessing about the impact of them daily life and the ability to work.
Currently the tribunal panel with the involvement of DQPMs provides a light at the end of a tunnel, as the panel gives due consideration to the Deaf or Disabled people’s testimony regarding the impact of their impairment and also examines the evidence of health professionals. The tribunal hearings have reversed many wrong decisions, righting the injustice of the initial inaccurate assessment. We are extremely concerned that proposed change will result in Deaf and Disabled people experiencing miscarriages of justice system and the light at the end of the tunnel will be extinguished.
We recommended that a medical professional such as a GP and a Disabled person who is an ‘expert by experience’ sits on the panel with a judge as DQPMs for welfare benefit tribunals involving Deaf and Disabled people.
We also recommend that other tribunals such as employment tribunals involving a Deaf and Disabled person ensure that DQPMS sit on the panel with the judge.
The impact assessment and the equality impact assessment of the government’s proposals are totally inadequate. We believe the impact on Deaf and Disabled adults will be significant and detrimental to the extent that disabled people will experience miscarriages justice if the reforms go ahead in their current form.
We recommended that the impact assessment and the equality impact assessment are done again taking the impact on Deaf and Disabled people into consideration.
Download the full response below:
inclusion-londons-response-to-transforming-the-justice-system-panel-conslt-2016