The use of assignments between Chambers is beginning to reflect the generic nature of an appointment to the First-tier Tribunal or the Upper Tribunal with expressions of interest exercises replacing competitions run by the Judicial Appointments Commission. The Senior President of Tribunals is also running a pilot on the use of caseworkers rather than judges to make decisions that do not involve the final disposal of a case. This may affect the way that interlocutory decisions are made and challenged.

Looking to the future, the effects of devolution in Scotland will add a further layer of complexity to the structure of the system, or perhaps add a new system for Scotland.

I have continued my previous practice of providing a text that is generally applicable to all jurisdictions so far as that can be achieved within reasonable compass and at reasonable cost. The balance has been struck by citing only the rules of procedure that apply to the Upper Tribunal (other than the Lands Chamber) and identifying the equivalent rules for other Chambers in the footnotes. I have also continued to follow my previous practice of adopting terminology appropriate to England, leaving readers to read ‘permission’ as ‘leave’ in Northern Ireland, ‘costs’ as ‘expenses’ in Scotland and so on.

As always, I am grateful to readers who point out omissions or mistakes and who make suggestions for topics to include in future editions.

I have included the legislation as in force on 1 July 2016 and the case-law that was available to me on that date.