Appellate Tribunal
It is one of the income Tax Authorities to whom an assessee if dissatisfied by the order of an Appellate Asst. Commissioner may seek relief against that order (assessment). It is a special court or committee that is formed to reconsider a decision made by another court or committee. They are present at the state and federal levels and they do not include a jury. Some agencies, for example, have officers who hear cases, and then have mechanisms for reviewing the officers’ decisions. The mechanisms would involve what you might call a tribunal. Tribunals usually do not charge fees, each party usually pays their own costs. The simpler procedures of tribunals should mean that legal representation is unnecessary, so reducing costs. Before you can appeal to the tribunal you must ask for the decision about your benefits to be looked at again – this is called ‘mandatory reconsideration’.
A tribunal most likely is hearing appeals from other kinds of decision making bodies, such as a Human Rights Commission, or an immigration official’s decision on deportation, and so on. You can appeal a decision about your entitlement to benefits, for example, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit.
Benefit decisions you can appeal – You can appeal a decision about:
Bereavement Support Payment, Budgeting Loans, Child Benefit, Compensation Recovery Unit, Disability Working Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Home Responsibilities Protection, Income Support, Industrial Death Benefit, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, Maternity Allowance, Pension Credit, Retirement Pension, Severe Disablement Allowance, Tax credits, Widowed Parent’s Allowance, etc.
Criticisms of Tribunals
- The tribunal consists of members and heads that may not possess any background of law.
- Tribunals do not rely on uniform precedence and hence may lead to arbitrary and inconsistent decisions.
- Reasons for decisions are not always given, although this has been strongly recommended by the Court of Appeal.
