When you are assessing your steps in a legal process, you may be wondering where a tribunal fits in versus a court. In short, tribunals are usually more informal, quicker, and easier to access than courts, often dealing with specific areas such as employment or administrative disputes, while courts handle a wider range of civil and criminal cases through more formal procedures and higher fees.
To help you ascertain the correct path, here is an overview of the difference between tribunals and courts for anyone involved in, or considering, legal action. It explains what tribunals and courts are, the types you may encounter in the UK, how their jurisdiction and procedures differ, and how the wider legal system is structured, including where decisions can be appealed.
What are tribunals, and what do they do?
Tribunal hearings are a more accessible and faster process than Courts and are a little less formal, with proceedings generally being less formal legal proceedings where self representation is common, e.g. you do not have to appear with a legal representative. Here are the different types of tribunals for the United Kingdom, and tribunals exist in certain areas to help people pursue rights without always needing legal representation.
Employment Tribunals
In England and Wales, employment tribunals (ET) deal with disputes regarding workplace discrimination, discrimination claims, and statutory employment law. The employee (claimant) takes legal action to pursue rights against employers or other bodies by reading out their witness statement, and the respondent will question the claimant and give an employer’s statement. The hearing usually concludes on the same day, and rulings are binding. Tribunal judges may assist unrepresented parties with procedure while testing evidence. Fines or costs are enforceable by law.
Employment Tribunals in Great Britain have had no chargeable fees since 2017, but in some instances, the claimant may have to pay the respondent’s costs. Tribunals handle regulatory, disciplinary or administrative matters, and, unlike the courts, the tribunal system is UK-wide.
Scotland has a very similar system of ETs, but in Northern Ireland, there is the use of Fair Employment Tribunals (discrimination) and Industrial Tribunals (employment law).
Employment Appeal Tribunal
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) receives appeals lodged against employment tribunal decisions. If there is an appeal on the EAT ruling, this proceeds into the court system ending at the Supreme Court.
Competition Appeal Tribunal
Appeals of rulings made by the Office of Fair Trading or the regulators in the following sectors are heard by the Competition Appeal Tribunal hears appeals.
Railways,
Water,
Gas,
Electricity,
Telecommunications,
Air traffic services.
If there is an appeal against the ruling, it is heard via the court systems ending at the Supreme Court.
First-tier and Upper Tribunal
There is a unified tribunals system consisting of the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. It forms part of the tribunals judiciary and is headed by the senior president. This system has authority in the UK. There are seven different chambers to the First-tier covering administrative disputes, including matters involving government regulation:
War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Chamber
Tax Chamber
Social Entitlement Chamber
Property Chamber
Immigration and Asylum Chamber
Health, Education and Social Care Chamber
General Regulatory Chamber
Tribunal judges are legally qualified and may sit with panel members in specialist matters such as special educational disputes. The Upper Tribunal has jurisdiction to hear appeals against First-tier decisions, and these are heard in four different chambers.
Tax and Chancery Chamber
Lands Chamber
Immigration and Asylum Chamber
Administrative Appeals Chamber
The subsequent rulings can carry the status of High Court rulings in England and Wales because the Upper Tribunal is a superior court of record. Some reviews might be heard in the Queen’s Bench Division of the Administrative Court.
If there is an appeal against the ruling, it is heard via the court systems ending at the Supreme Court.
What are the different courts, and what do they do?
Not all cases go straight to court, as the judge might request the representing lawyers of each side to attend a Case Management Conference to clarify the issues of the case.
There are fees related to claims via a court, and a lawyer will clarify this. In most cases, the court depending on the type and value of the legal case will decide costs as part of the proceedings. In many cases, the court can order one party to pay the other’s legal costs, although courts typically allow recovery of 60-75% of legal costs. Here are the different types of courts in the UK:
The Appellate Courts
These courts consist of:
UK Supreme Court
The final court of appeal for any civil cases and criminal cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Privy Council
The Supreme Court judges all sit on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. They hear appeals originating from:
UK overseas territories,
Crown dependencies,
Qualifying Commonwealth countries
Qualifying republics
Court of Appeal
There are two divisions of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales within Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunals framework:
appeals from the Crown Court are heard in the Criminal Division,
appeals from the High Court, Family Court, senior tribunals, and county courts on civil and family matters are heard in the Civil Division.
The Lord Chief Justice is among the senior judicial figures associated with the appellate courts in England and Wales.
The Court of Appeal and the High Court form the Senior Courts.
The Criminal Courts
These courts consist of:
Crown Court
The trials heard at these courts are for serious criminal offences or sentencing of a defendant who has pleaded guilty or has been convicted. The Court also hears appeals from a magistrates court.
Magistrates’ Courts
Over ninety per cent of all criminal cases are heard in this court, such as:
Summary offences (low seriousness),
Medium serious offences,
Pre-trial issues relating to serious offences
Youth Courts
A youth court has less formal procedures than an adult court when dealing with juvenile criminal cases but excludes homicide. The latter goes to the Crown Court.
The Civil courts
These courts consist of:
High Court
There are three divisions within the High Court, viz the Queen’s (or King’s) Bench Division, the Chancery Division and the Family Division. High Court judges hear more complex cases, including a complex legal dispute that would be unsuitable for a local County Court.
Business and Property Courts
The Business and Property Courts of England and Wales combines a number of specialist courts under the Queen’s Bench and Chancery Divisions.
County Courts
These courts provide local justice for most cases, and small civil claims are often issued in a local County Court; in lower-value claims, parties may also pay their own costs rather than recover full legal fees.
Family cases are not heard in County Courts anymore but in Family Courts. There are specialist county courts, such as:
Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (ex-Patents County Court)
Circuit Commercial Courts (ex-Mercantile Court)
This ends the analysis of the different courts and the roles they play.
The Military courts
The military court status is similar to the Crown Court but with different procedures. All participants, except for the defendant’s representative, are in uniform. Military courts consist of:
Court Martial
Court Martial Appeal Court
Summary Appeal Court
Service Civilian Court – for offences against service law, committed outside the British Isles by a civilian subject to service discipline. Similar to civilian magistrates’ courts.
The Coroners’ Courts
All 92 separate coroners jurisdictions are separate from the unified tribunals system and courts of England and Wales. They have their own jurisdiction, are locally funded and resourced by local authorities, and determine the reason for any unnatural, violent or sudden death.
Structure of the courts & tribunal system
The UK courts system has become complex through its organic development over 1,000 years, with these judicial bodies forming part of a wider UK structure.
Here is a diagram of the routes of the different cases through the court system.
Source: Courts & Tribunals website
The tribunal system is independent of the court system, but binding decisions from tribunals can move into legal proceedings and appeals in the Courts of Appeal in England and Wales and, in some tribunal matters, across Great Britain or other UK-wide jurisdictions. Courts and tribunals are separate but connected systems, and government policy can affect how proceedings work and how easily people can take legal action.
When you are assessing your steps in a legal process, you may be wondering where a tribunal fits in versus a court. In short, tribunals are usually more informal, quicker, and easier to access than courts, often dealing with specific areas such as employment or administrative disputes, while courts handle a wider range of civil and criminal cases through more formal procedures and higher fees.
To help you ascertain the correct path, here is an overview of the difference between tribunals and courts for anyone involved in, or considering, legal action. It explains what tribunals and courts are, the types you may encounter in the UK, how their jurisdiction and procedures differ, and how the wider legal system is structured, including where decisions can be appealed.
Source: Courts & Tribunals website
The tribunal system is independent of the court system, but binding decisions from tribunals can move into legal proceedings and appeals in the Courts of Appeal in England and Wales and, in some tribunal matters, across Great Britain or other UK-wide jurisdictions. Courts and tribunals are separate but connected systems, and government policy can affect how proceedings work and how easily people can take legal action.
