The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales
In this section...
| Purpose | To explain the processes involved before and during a hearing of the Charity Tribunal. |
Functional responsibility
| For action | Customer Services | For information | All operational staff |
1. Pre-hearing reviews and preliminary questions
2. Hearings
3. After the hearing
Index to further related information
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| The Law | Refer to a lawyer | Refer to an accountant |
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1. Pre-hearing reviews and preliminary questions | |
| 1.1 Pre-hearing review 1.2 Preliminary questions | |
| Summary of the law | |
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Rule 13 enables the Tribunal to hold a pre-hearing review. If a pre-hearing review is to be held, the Tribunal must give the parties, including the Commission at least 14 days notice. |
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At the meeting the Tribunal will give directions and will ensure that parties make all admissions and agreements that should be made in relation to the proceedings. |
| In practice | |
| Pre-hearing reviews are held in order to deal with any case management issues. | |
| The DRT Team will receive notice if the Tribunal plans to hold a pre-hearing review. | |
| In advance of a pre-hearing review the DRT Team should determine who should attend the meeting and confirm their availability. This may mean that a lawyer, Head of Division, case officer or an independent legal representative is identified. A member of the DRT Team or a nominated officer may also attend to provide support to the Commission’s advocate. | |
| Summary of the law | |
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Rule 14 enables the Tribunal to hold a preliminary hearing in order to deal with any preliminary questions of fact or law which appear to be an issue. |
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If a preliminary hearing is to be held, the Tribunal must give the parties, including the Commission at least 14 days notice. |
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The Tribunal may decide to treat the preliminary hearing as the hearing of the appeal or application and may make an order to dispose of the appeal or application. |
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The Tribunal may decide to deal with any preliminary questions without an oral hearing if the parties, including the Commission, agree in writing. However in this case if the Tribunal is minded to dispose of the appeal or application, it must also obtain agreement to this in writing from the parties. |
| In practice | |
| The DRT Team will receive notice if the Tribunal plans to hold a preliminary hearing. | |
| In advance of a preliminary hearing the DRT Team should determine who should attend the meeting and confirm their availability. This may mean that a lawyer, Head of Division, case officer or an independent legal representative is identified. A member of the DRT Team or a nominated officer may also attend to provide support to the Commission’s advocate. | |
| If the Tribunal asks for the consent of parties to either deal with any preliminary questions without an oral hearing or to dispose of the appeal or application at the preliminary hearing, the DRT Team will ask the Heads of Legal Services to authorise such consents if they deem that an oral hearing is unnecessary or that it is appropriate for the appeal or application to be disposed of. | |
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2. Hearings | |
| 2.1 Before the hearing 2.2 At the hearing | |
| Summary of the law | |
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Under Rule 21 the Tribunal must give the Commission and other parties at least 28 days notice of the time and place of the hearing of the appeal or application. However the Tribunal may direct, or the parties may agree, that this timescale should be changed, for example if it relates to an urgent matter. |
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The Tribunal may determine an appeal or application without an oral hearing, where the parties, including the Commission, agree to this in writing in advance. |
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Although appeals are normally held in public, the Commission or any other party can request that all or part of a hearing be held in private. The Tribunal will determine this, after giving the other parties the opportunity to make representations. Rule 26 sets out the circumstances the Tribunal will take into account in making this decision. |
| In practice | |
| The Commission will receive notice of the time and place of the hearing. | |
| The DRT Team is responsible for determining who should attend the hearing and confirming their availability. The Team is responsible for ensuring that the Commission’s case is represented to the optimum and this may mean arranging that a lawyer, Head of Division, case officer or an independent legal representative is available to represent the Commission. A member of the DRT Team or a nominated officer may also attend an oral hearing to provide support to the Commission’s advocate. The DRT Team will agree the list of attendees with the Heads of Legal Services. | |
| If the Tribunal asks for the consent of parties to determine an appeal or application without an oral hearing or to deal with the case in private, the DRT Team will ask the Heads of Legal Services to authorise any consent. | |
| The DRT Team is responsible for liaising with case officers and the designated lawyer to identify any issues which suggest that the case should be held wholly or partly in private. The DRT Team will ask the Heads of Legal Services to authorise any such request before it is submitted to the Tribunal. | |
| Summary of the law | |
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The parties may appear at the hearing and may be assisted or represented by any person, whether or not they are a legal representative. The Tribunal may refuse to permit a person to assist or represent a party if it feels there are good reasons for doing so. |
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A party who intends to be represented or assisted by an individual who is subject to a restriction of proceedings order under the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 or the Supreme Court Act 1981 must seek permission from the Tribunal to involve this individual in proceedings. |
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At the hearing the parties (subject to any directions) may give evidence, make a request to call expert evidence, call witnesses, question witnesses and address the Tribunal on the evidence and generally on the subject matter of the appeal or application. |
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Evidence can be admitted to the Tribunal whether or not it would be admissible in a civil trial in England or Wales and whether or not it was available to the Commission when the final decision in question was made. |
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Under Rule 30 if a party fails to attend a hearing, the Tribunal can hear and determine the appeal or application in the party’s absence or may adjourn the hearing. However if the hearing goes ahead and a decision is made, a party can request that the decision be set aside, and the Tribunal may grant this request if it believes that the party had a good reason for failing to attend. |
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Any party can request that a hearing be adjourned. That party must notify all the other parties of the request, including reasons and any evidence to support the request. The Tribunal must not adjourn a hearing unless satisfied that the appeal or application cannot otherwise be justly determined. Rule 28 provides more information. |
| In practice | |
| The DRT Team is responsible for determining who should attend the hearing. The Team is responsible for ensuring that the Commission’s case is represented to the optimum and this may mean arranging that a lawyer, Head of Division, case officer or an independent legal representative represents the Commission. A member of the DRT Team may also attend an oral hearing to provide support to the Commission’s advocate. The DRT Team will agree the list of attendees with the Heads of Legal Services. | |
| Any requests relating to adjournment must be agreed by the Heads of Legal Services. | |
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3. After the hearing | |
| 3.1 Possible outcomes of an appeal or application 3.2 Notification and publication of Tribunal decisions 3.3 Costs 3.4 Review of the Tribunal’s decision 3.5 Appeal to the High Court | |
| Summary of the law | |
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Having heard a case, the Tribunal may dismiss the appeal or application or it may allow the appeal or application. Where an appeal or application is allowed the Tribunal has various powers it can exercise. For example, it can quash a decision and replace it with its own decision or it can direct the Commission to take some specific action, such as adding a charity to the register of charities. The options available to the Tribunal depend on the type of decision in question. These are set out in OG 95 C1. |
| Summary of the law | |
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The Tribunal must as soon as practicable send a notification of its decision and the reasons for reaching that decision to all the parties including the Commission. The notification must also be accompanied by information about the right to appeal the Tribunal’s decision. |
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The Tribunal must publish its decisions unless it decides that it is necessary to restrict access to the decision. In such cases it may anonymise, edit or decline to publish the decision. Before doing so the Tribunal must invite parties to make representations. Rules 31-32 cover these issues. |
| In practice | |
| The Commission will receive notification of the Tribunal’s decision, which should be disseminated internally as appropriate by the DRT Team. | |
| If the Tribunal invites parties to make representations in relation to restricting access to a decision or if the DRT Team is minded to ask the Tribunal to restrict publication, it should ask the Heads of Legal Services for authorisation before taking action. | |
| Summary of the law | |
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The Tribunal may make a costs order against a party (including the Commission) if it considers they have acted vexatiously, frivolously or unreasonably at any stage of the Tribunal proceedings. It may order a party to pay part or all of the other party’s costs. |
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The Tribunal may also make a costs order against the Commission if it considers that the Commission’s decision, which is the subject of the proceedings before it, was unreasonable. |
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Before making a costs order against a party, the Tribunal must give that party the opportunity to make representations against the making of the order. |
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S.2B(5)-(7) of the Charities Act 1993 as amended by the Charities Act 2006 and Rule 33 cover costs. |
| In practice | |
| If the Tribunal invites the Commission to make representations in relation to the making of a cost order against the Commission, the DRT Team will escalate the matter to the Heads of Legal Services to agree a response. | |
| Summary of the law | |
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The Tribunal may review its decision if it is satisfied that the decision was wrongly made as a result of an administrative error on the part of the Tribunal’s staff. |
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A party may ask the Tribunal to review its decision by filing a request within 14 days of the date on which they were notified of the Tribunal’s decision. Alternatively the Tribunal may itself propose to undertake a review, in which case it must notify the parties of the proposal within 14 days of the date on which the decision was sent to the parties. Rule 34 provides more information. |
| In practice | |
| If the DRT Team identifies an administrative error, which indicates that the decision should be reviewed, it will seek the permission of the Heads of Legal Services before requesting that the Tribunal carries out a review. | |
| Summary of the law | |
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The "applicant" may request the permission of the Tribunal to appeal its decision at the High Court. The definition of the "applicant" means that the Commission or the Attorney General, as well as the appellant and any other parties to the Tribunal case may make such a request. |
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Such a request must normally be filed within 28 days of receiving notification of the Tribunal’s decision. |
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The High Court can also remit an appeal to the Tribunal for a rehearing. |
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The involvement of the High Court is covered by Rules 35-37. |
| In practice | |
| If the Commission is dissatisfied with a Tribunal decision we may wish to seek the Tribunal’s permission to appeal this decision at the High Court. The decision to make this request should be taken by the Director’s Group. | |
Index to further related information
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