Administrative Justice and tribunals

Administrative justice refers to the decisions public authorities make on issues such as social security appeals, immigration and special educational needs, and the options available for individual people to appeal against those decisions.  

Our particular focus in administrative justice is the issue of dispute resolution and how it can be improved. This may require acquiring better descriptive information or studying reforms or making comparisons between different practices.

Recently we have funded a programme of research to investigate the influences on decision-making at tribunals. This is being undertaken by the Centre for Empirical Legal Studies at UCL and has a particular focus on the value of oral hearings in relation to a positive outcome for the claimant.

Other projects include the identification of reform proposals for tribunals in Northern Ireland, and an examination of the use of contingency fees in the UK using the example of employment tribunals. 

Full details about our priorities for funding in administrative justice can be found in the apply for funding section.