Delivering administrative justice after the pandemic

Delivering administrative justice after the pandemic: what can we learn about digitalisation and vulnerable groups?

This project will be examining the administrative justice system and the impact of COVID-19.

The pandemic forced the justice system, where possible, to go digital. This rapid and radical shift presents a huge opportunity to draw positive lessons for the future. Several projects are already underway to understand the impact of the pandemic on specific judicial systems, such as family courts.

The research team will be examining the effect of rapid digitalisation on the delivery of justice, identifying the effects on access for marginalised groups and exploring how trust can be built and sustained in parts of the justice system affected by the pandemic. This will be done by partnering with housing, special education needs and disability organisations. These are areas of law which are exceedingly important during a pandemic and serve as an excellent platform to explore trust and access to justice.

The housing ombudsman, Property Chamber, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) tribunal and Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) are the four organisations that have partnered with the research team. This partnership will help the research team collect quantitative and qualitative data and work towards completing their three stages of work.

1. Mapping pathways to justice and determining the impact of digitalisation on how people interact with partner organisations.
2. Conducting interviews with practitioners and marginalised groups and building an evidence base for why and how marginalised group do or don’t access justice.
3. Surveying service providers and service users and interpreting the gathered data. This will help clarify people’s trust in the justice system during and after the pandemic.  

Each stage of work will have corresponding public outputs. Upon completion of mapping pathways, a visual map and interim report will be published alongside an animation for the general public. The interviews and survey results will be interpreted and published in factsheets and a database. Upon completion of all work, a public report will be published containing the findings and policy recommendations. A workshop will be held to present findings and engage with stakeholders.