You may have seen the recently announced Ministry of Justice consultation on Proposals for reforms to arrangements for obtaining permission to appeal from the Upper Tribunal to the Court of Appeal (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/939835/reforms-arrangements-obtaining-permission-appeal.pdf)
This proposes to restrict rights of appeal to the Court of Appeal from the Upper Tribunal in (a) cases where the Upper Tribunal has refused permission to appeal in a second appeal (by applying a more stringent test) and (b) judicial reviews certified as totally without merit (TWM) by the Upper Tribunal.
ALBA will be responding to this consultation and is keen to draw on the expertise and experience of members who regularly practice in the Upper Tribunal (all chambers) as to the impact of these proposals. If you have such experience and would like to join ALBA’s working group to produce the consultation response, please email ALBA committee member Alison Pickup at a.pickup@publiclawproject.org.uk It would be helpful if you could indicate which chambers of the UT you have experience of, so that we can try to get a good range of experience in the working group.
The deadline for the consultation response is 11 January so we will aim to hold the first (virtual) meeting of the working group within the next couple of weeks. Once we have a working group we may also be in touch to seek case studies/illustrative examples from other members.