Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007

• (4) If an action is brought in any other court in circumstances in which subsection (1) or (2) provides that no action lies, the court in which the action is brought—

• (a) may, on the application of the defendant, strike out the proceedings in the action, and

• (b) if it does so, may if it thinks fit order the person bringing the action to pay costs.

29D

• (1) A court may not order an authorised person to pay costs in any proceedings in respect of what the person does or omits to do in the execution (or purported execution) of the person's duty as an authorised person exercising, by virtue of paragraph 3 of Schedule 5, a function of a tribunal.

• (2) But subsection (1) does not apply in relation to any proceedings in which an authorised person—

• (a) is being tried for an offence or is appealing against a conviction, or

• (b) is proved to have acted in bad faith in respect of the matters giving rise to the proceedings.

• (3) A court which is prevented by subsection (1) from ordering an authorised person to pay costs in any proceedings may instead order the Lord Chancellor to make a payment in respect of the costs of a person in the proceedings.

• (4) The Lord Chancellor may, after consulting the Senior President of Tribunals, make regulations specifying—

• (a) circumstances in which a court must or must not exercise the power conferred on it by subsection (3), and

• (b) how the amount of any payment ordered under subsection (3) is to be determined.

• (5) The power to make regulations under subsection (4) includes power to make—

• (a) any supplementary, incidental or consequential provision, and

• (b) any transitory, transitional or saving provision,

which the Lord Chancellor considers necessary or expedient.

• (6) The Senior President of Tribunals may delegate the Senior President of Tribunals' functions under subsection (4) to a person who is a judicial office holder.

• (7) Subsections (3) to (5) of section 8 apply to a delegation under subsection (6) of this section as they apply to a delegation under subsection (1) of that section.

• (8) In the application of this section to Scotland—

• (a) references to a court ordering an authorised person to pay costs are to be read as references to a court finding an authorised person liable in expenses, and

• (b) the second reference to costs in subsection (3) is to be read as a reference to expenses.

29E

• (1) “Indemnifiable amounts”, in relation to an authorised person, means—

• (a) costs which the person reasonably incurs in or in connection with proceedings in respect of anything done or omitted to be done in the exercise (or purported exercise) of the person's duty as an authorised person,

• (b) costs which the person reasonably incurs in taking steps to dispute a claim which might be made in such proceedings,

• (c) damages awarded against the person or costs ordered to be paid by the person in such proceedings, or

• (d) sums payable by the person in connection with a reasonable settlement of such proceedings or such a claim.

• (2) The Lord Chancellor must indemnify an authorised person in respect of indemnifiable amounts if, in respect of the matters giving rise to the proceedings or claim, the person acted reasonably and in good faith.

• (3) The Lord Chancellor may indemnify an authorised person in respect of other indemnifiable amounts unless it is proved, in respect of the matters giving rise to the proceedings or claim, that the person acted in bad faith.

• (4) Any question whether, or to what extent, an authorised person is to be indemnified under this section is to be determined by the Lord Chancellor.

• (5) The Lord Chancellor may, if an authorised person claiming to be indemnified so requests, make a determination for the purposes of this section with respect to—

• (a) costs such as are mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b), or

• (b) sums such as are mentioned in subsection (1)(d),

before the costs are incurred or the settlement in connection with which the sums are payable is made.

• (6) But a determination under subsection (5) before costs are incurred—

• (a) is subject to such limitations (if any) as the Lord Chancellor thinks proper and to the subsequent determination of the costs reasonably incurred, and

• (b) does not affect any other determination which may fall to be made in connection with the proceedings or claim in question.

• (7) In the application of this section to Scotland, references to costs are to be read as references to expenses.

Appointment of deputy Circuit judges

Appointment of temporary assistants to Judge Advocate General

Enforcement by taking control of goods

Debt relief orders and debt relief restrictions orders etc.

Regulations

Supplementary

Appeals in relation to design rights

Recovery of sums payable under compromises involving ACAS

Power to make supplementary or other provision

Delegation of functions to staff: reconsideration of decisions

28A

• (1) Before making Rules that provide for the exercise of functions of the First-tier Tribunal or Upper Tribunal by authorised persons by virtue of paragraph 3, the Committee must take the following steps in relation to each of the functions in question.

• (2) The Committee must consider whether the Rules should include a right for the parties to proceedings in which a decision is made by an authorised person exercising the function to have the decision reconsidered by a judicial office holder.

• (3) If the Committee considers that the rules should include such a right, it must include provision to that effect when it makes the Rules.

• (4) If the Committee does not consider that the rules should include such a right, it must inform the Lord Chancellor of—

• (a) its decision, and

• (b) its reasons for reaching that decision.

• (5) In this paragraph “authorised person” and “judicial office holder” have the same meanings as in Chapter 2A of Part 1 of this Act (see section 29A).

11A

• (1) Subsections (2) and (3) apply in relation to a decision by the Upper Tribunal to refuse permission (or leave) to appeal further to an application under section 11(4)(b).

• (2) The decision is final, and not liable to be questioned or set aside in any other court.

• (3) In particular—

• (a) the Upper Tribunal is not to be regarded as having exceeded its powers by reason of any error made in reaching the decision;

• (b) the supervisory jurisdiction does not extend to, and no application or petition for judicial review may be made or brought in relation to, the decision.

• (4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply so far as the decision involves or gives rise to any question as to whether—

• (a) the Upper Tribunal has or had a valid application before it under section 11(4)(b),

• (b) the Upper Tribunal is or was properly constituted for the purpose of dealing with the application, or

• (c) the Upper Tribunal is acting or has acted—

• (i) in bad faith, or

• (ii) in such a procedurally defective way as amounts to a fundamental breach of the principles of natural justice.

• (5) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply so far as provision giving the First-tier Tribunal jurisdiction to make the first-instance decision could (if the Tribunal did not already have that jurisdiction) be made by—

• (a) an Act of the Scottish Parliament, or

• (b) an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly the Bill for which would not require the consent of the Secretary of State.

• (6) The court of supervisory jurisdiction is not to entertain any application or petition for judicial review in respect of a decision of the First-tier Tribunal that it would not entertain (whether as a matter of law or discretion) in the absence of this section.

• (7) In this section—

• “decision” includes any purported decision;

• “first-instance decision” means the decision in relation to which permission (or leave) to appeal is being sought under section 11(4)(b);

• “the supervisory jurisdiction” means the supervisory jurisdiction of—the High Court, in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, orthe Court of Session, in Scotland,and “the court of supervisory jurisdiction” is to be read accordingly.

Debt relief orders and debt relief restrictions orders etc.

Debt repayment plans

Supplementary

Judicial review: power to substitute decision

Recovery of sums payable under compromises involving ACAS