The General Regulatory Chamber

What is the General Regulatory Chamber?

The General Regulatory Chamber (GRC) is a new chamber that will bring together individual tribunals that hear appeals on regulatory issues.

The GRC is scheduled to commence in September 2009, subject to Parliamentary approval. It will sit within the First-tier Tribunal.

Which tribunals will transfer in?

Subject to Parliamentary approval in September 2009, the following tribunals will be abolished and their functions will transfer in to the GRC:

• Charity
• Consumer Credit Appeals
• Estate Agents Appeals Panel
• 
  Some functions of the Transport Tribunal will transfer into the GRC in September (generally, but not limited to, appeals from the Driving Standards Agency). The Transport Tribunal will not be abolished at this time, as it is necessary to retain the Tribunal to hear appeals under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001.

Further tribunals are scheduled to join the GRC in January 2010:

• Information
• Gambling Appeals
• Claims Management
• Immigration Services
• Adjudication Panel for England

How will this impact tribunals' users?

The establishment of the GRC will help us to share and continue current best practice in the respective tribunals. When tribunals transfer into the GRC their existing procedural rules will be replaced by GRC-specific rules. Having these tribunals under the one GRC umbrella will ensure a consistent and more flexible service for tribunals' users.

Users will still have their cases heard by judicial specialists trained to hear their specific appeals. Judicial members of the existing tribunals will transfer into the new structure, preserving judicial expertise and ensuring continuity of service.

Progress updates

Draft Statutory Instruments, which transfer the Tribunals listed above in September 2009, were laid before Parliament on 1 June. View the Transfer Order.

The consultation for the General Regulatory Chamber draft procedure rules has now closed. Consultation responses will be considered by the Government and a formal response will be published on this site in due course. You can still access the documents by visiting the 'Consultation on the Tribunals Service General Regulatory Chamber' page.

Operational work is ongoing to prepare individual tribunals for the transfer to the GRC. Information leaflets and other materials will be updated and will be available on this website closer to the transfer dates.

How can I find out more?

Regular updates about GRC establishment will be posted on this website.

If you have any queries about the changes please email the TCE Implementation mailbox (on the right hand side of this page).