Adjudication Panel for England

The Adjudication Panel for England is an independent Tribunal, established by the Local Government Act 2000 as a disciplinary body to hear and determine references concerning the conduct of local authority councillors. Subsequent regulations allowed the Adjudication Panel to act as an appellate body to determine appeals against the decisions of local standards committees.

The Act set up an ethical governance framework designed to maintain high standards of behaviour for members of local authorities and associated bodies. All relevant authorities are required to act in accordance with a Code of Conduct; the minimum requirements being laid down in a statutory Model Code. Failure to comply with the Code can lead to a member being suspended from office or disqualified from being a member.

The Case Tribunals (England) Regulations 2008 were recently laid before Parliament by the Minister for Local Government. Any case considered by a Case Tribunal on or after 12 December 2008 will be subject to these new Regulations. The Regulations allow for the withdrawing of references made to the Adjudication Panel by an ethical standards officer and make provision about the sanctions available to a Case Tribunal. In particular, they ensure that Case Tribunals will have power to censure a member, require them to apologise, attend training, or enter into a conciliation process. These sanctions were previously available only to local standards committees.