Administrative Justice Network

The proposed events aim to reenergise the debate about the administrative justice system looking forward and targeting pressing issues. The Administrative Justice System is about how government treats people - ideally it needs to promote a shared system of values and principles (accountability, transparency, fairness and human rights). How can this be translated into new challenges the system and its users are facing?

The administrative justice system is made up of many institutions that do not usually communicate. There are many pressing issues that need to be addressed across institutions, across academic disciplines and across diverse stakeholders. We propose to hold 4 workshops and a conference that bring together all these stakeholders to explore current topics [for example: digitalization, data labs, ombudsman reform, tribunal reform, administrative decision-making, cognitive biases and AI]. The novel approach is that we facilitate an exchange between those actors in the administrative justice system that desperately need to listen and learn from each other. The workshops and the conference will allow exploring different angles to take the debates into new areas. The exchange will enable partnerships, learning from best-practise and developing ideas for future collaboration and follow-on projects. New insights will feed directly into the institutions and will be translated into practise. There is a great appetite and support for the workshops and the conference from the Administrative Justice Council (AJC), JUSTICE, the Cabinet office and the senior president of the tribunals. The planned events will include academics [economists, behavioural psychologists, internet academics e.g. Oxford Internet Institute, socio-legal scholars], government officials, interested public and charities.

The aim is to develop a platform for increased engagement, collaboration and exchange of ideas between academics, practitioners, judges, ombudsman schemes and interest groups including those who assist the vulnerable and unfunded in obtaining access to justice.

The planned events will assist in creating a framework to address urgent issues that are of strategic importance for the functioning of the institutions of the administrative justice system. The events will also provide an excellent opportunity to network and build collaborations for future projects. We have full support of the SPT, MoJ and JUSTICE.

The administrative justice system suffers an identity crisis. There is no feeling of togetherness of the individual branches. The aim is to unite the parts of administrative justice into one recognizable system. This includes creating a basis for understanding, learning and strategic thinking. It is essential at this time of reform and modernization to produce evidence-based understanding of the use, operation and effect of administrative justice system. The planned events start just this process. They enable an exchange and generate impact through interaction between parts of the administrative justice system and its users.
The events are targeted at policy makers and government (local, regional and devolved levels), the institutions of the Administrative Justice System (AJS): ombudsman schemes, courts, tribunals, as well as their users. Professional and practitioner groups, charities and the wider public are beneficiaries.

Overall these groups will contribute to advancing the debate and help shape the future of the AJS:
- connecting stakeholders that would usually not have direct interaction;
- focus of the workshops on current issues (digitalization, administrative decision-making, ombudsman schemes and tribunals, users of the AJS) will help shape the agenda to find solutions and to help link disparate parts of a whole together;
- foster lasting relationships and exchange through the network;
- provide longer term collaborations between actors;
- set up interdisciplinary academic projects and follow-up events.

Policy & government: The planned events will provide policy makers and government with information that will allow for future development of evidence-based policy. In particular, understanding how the individual branches of the AJS could improve their processes and interactions with each other. There are valuable lessons to be learned in a time of reform and modernisation.

The Administrative Justice system: Broadly speaking the institutions targeted in the workshops (ombudsman schemes, courts and tribunals) will be the prime beneficiaries. Current practises will be analysed and new processes and policies suggested to maximise efficiency and user-friendliness. Members of ombudsmen and tribunals will be actively engaged in the workshops and will help co-produce practical outcomes and recommendations. The aim is to foster learning and understanding that takes place to translate into an evidence base - a toolkit - to support change towards a better and more integrated system.
The targeted institutions will benefit from the planned events by gaining a better understanding of their processes and future challenges. The findings are transferable to other contexts and will encourage cross-fertilization through training and staff development.

Law reform and Human Rights Organizations: Organizations that engage in our events will be able to effectively demonstrate the value of their work through being part of the proposed programme of change and also directly contribute to the direction and prioritise the discussed themes. The network will benefit from the expertise of these organisations.

Wider public / users: The events will enhance visibility and question access to the institutions of the AJS. People will be more aware of its functions and how they might access it. The workshops will shed light on processes and structures which will improve the functioning of the services, leading to fuller participation, and resulting in benefits in terms of social justice and engagement. Wider societal and economic impacts will be achieved through knowledge exchange and the development of new and innovative processes.
The desired outcome of the events is to trigger change through policy and legislative reform. The contribution to these processes will be to provide a store of evidence-based arguments and for policy makers to use. The workshops and conference are a start to a more prolonged engagement with players