Appealing a decision

How to appeal

If we cannot reach an agreement with you, we will tell you how you can appeal.

As part of the appeals process you will need to complete an Appeal Referral Form. This form is for use in making an appeal to the Independent Appeal Panel where your application has not been accepted into the scheme or a dispute has arisen. You can download the form below.

 

Who deals with your appeal

The Independent Appeal Panel will consider your application.

The panel is chaired by a retired judge. This person is a permanent member of the panel.

Two other panel members support the judge. These are independent experts. They can be:

  • former social workers
  • psychologists
  • guardians
  • barristers
  • people who used to be in care as children

For most disputes under the scheme, all three panel members will decide.

For disputes about whether someone is eligible to apply, the retired judge will decide on their own.

The council has no influence or control over the decisions the panel makes.

What happens during an appeal

The panel will review your application and the decision the Redress team has made.

The panel may ask for more written information. They can ask this from:

  • you
  • the Redress team
  • the medical expert

The decision of the Independent Appeal Panel is final. This means that if the panel reduces your compensation, you cannot decide to accept the previous higher offer.

How long your appeal can take

If the panel does not need more information, it will review your application within 30 working days of getting it.

If the panel needs more information, the appeal decision may take longer.

How we chose the appeal panel members

We appointed the Chair of the panel by identifying potential retired judges who:

  • used to work in the Queen’s Bench Division
  • had relevant experience
  • were interested in chairing the Independent Appeal Panel
  • had the time commitment to take on this role

We shortlisted six potential judges before making a final decision.

To choose the barristers for the panel, we approached four chambers with barristers who had experience of dealing with claims arising out of historic physical and sexual abuse of children.

The senior clerk from each set of chambers nominated barristers that they felt met the criteria for sitting on the panel.

From this list, we chose a pool of seven barristers.

We selected the independent experts by looking at experts that had previously sat on fostering panels for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service. We evaluated potential experts based on:

  • their experience and knowledge
  • their availability to do this role

We selected a pool of five independent experts.

How we choose members of each panel

Each of the panel members takes it in turn to sit on a panel.

Once a panel member has sat on a panel, they’ll then go to the back of the list. They won’t sit on another panel until all the other members have sat on a panel.

Panel Chair

  • Sir John Goldring

Barristers

  • Patricia Leonard – 7 Bedford Row
  • Richard Mumford – 1 Crown Office Row
  • Matthew Boyle – Crown Office Chambers
  • Craig Carr – 7 Bedford Row
  • Saleem Khalid – 1 Chancery Lane
  • Laura Johnson – 1 Chancery Lane
  • Farah Mauladad – Crown Office Chambers

Independent experts

  • Julie Brown, qualified social worker
  • Sean Dirrane, former looked-after child
  • Miranda Fisher, qualified social worker and practice educator
  • Inder K Hunjan MBE, independent consultant, higher education sector/local authority
  • Maria Townsend, educational background and psychologist