Part 3: appeals to the upper tribunal

Valuation Office Agency

December 15

15:51 2023

The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (UTLC) is the successor to the Lands Tribunal. It is an independent and specialist judicial body dealing with, among other things, rating appeals from cases heard in the Valuation Tribunals (VT). The UTLC is part of the Courts and Tribunal Service, the website is here (Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary).
There are strict time limits and UTLC cases must be actively managed. Cases will require a high standard of professional input.
There will be a "caseworker" who is responsible for the case. They will represent the Valuation Officer (VO) for the case, either in person or instructed by the statutory VO, and act as the main expert witness where expert evidence is required. Generally, there will be a separate case manager to assist in the process of running the case and allowing the caseworker to concentrate on settlement and/or preparation for the hearing.
For all cases, the statutory VO should be named as the appellant or respondent and not the caseworker who is allocated the case.
This section deals with the case management of UTLC cases. It does not cover the requirements of the expert witness or advocate (covered here (Rating Manual Section 7: Part 1: advocate and expert witness roles)). Any questions on Tribunal case management should be discussed with the Litigation and Technical Policy team within CVG. (L&TP)

All UTLC cases must be referred to the Litigation Settlement Review Panel (LSRP).
In cases where the VO is the respondent, a referral must be made to the LSRP as soon as it is apparent there is an appeal. This could be before the formal appeal is received if, for example, the appellant confirms they have appealed a VT decision or sends a copy of the appeal direct to the VO.
Similarly, before initiating an appeal, the VO must seek approval from the LSRP.
As part of the LSRP process, a decision should be made whether to instruct HMRC Solicitors (HMRCS) or to run the case within the VOA. Generally, cases on simplified procedure will not require HMRCS involvement.
Instructions for the LSRP are found in VOA - Litigation Settlement Review Process. The L&TP can help in drafting papers for the panel.

Where HMRCS are to be instructed, a submission must be drafted and sent by the G6 team head. Instructions for instructing HMRCS are available from the L&TP.

All Upper Tribunal cases must be registered on the Litigation Register and this is usually undertaken by the CVG support team. It is the case managers responsibility to ensure the case is updated regularly on the Litigation Register with meaningful comments to allow anyone to understand the current state of play of the case.
The litigation register also classifies cases as:

CVO - For any central list cases
NVU - For all NVU cases - generally on standard procedure and HMRCS will be instructed
Unit - Cases retained by Units, usually on simplified procedure

Within the Litigation Register there is a time sheet. All involved in the case should regularly record their time as this will be used in any cost awards. It is also useful management information to assess the resource used in litigation.
As part of the process when a case is registered on the Litigation Register, an email is sent to the VT informing them of the appeal. Local Authority Relationship Managers (LARMs) are also notified by email and they should notify the appropriate BA.
Once a decision has been issued by the Tribunal, the case should be closed on the Litigation register even if the costs have not been resolved.
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All UTLC cases should be raised as a "LT" case within RSA.
All working documents for a case should be stored in SharePoint for the case managers team. The case manager should set up the folder and ensure access is granted to any staff requiring it.
Final versions of all documents and emails should be kept in EDRM.

Where HMRCS are instructed, there is no requirement for an authority to act letter. For simplified procedure cases managed by a staff within the VOA, that case manager must be authorised to act by the statutory valuation officer.
A template of the VO authority to act form are available from the L&TP.

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