Part 6: Miscellaneous Section 80: Tribunal charging power in respect of wasted resources
Overview: This section amends section 29 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (TCEA) providing a new power for the First-tier and Upper-Tier Tribunals to order a party to pay a charge in respect of wasted or unnecessary tribunal costs incurred due to a party’s unreasonable actions.
	Background: Failure to comply with tribunal directions by legal representatives can disrupt or prevent the proper preparation of an appeal, and lead to cases being adjourned at a late stage.
	This can lead to the parties incurring additional unnecessary costs. Allocated tribunal time can also be wasted, leading to delays in determining appeals, adding to backlogs of outstanding appeals, and delaying justice for those with genuine claims while valuable judicial resources are wasted.
	At present the power in Section 29 of the TCEA which gives Tribunals power to make costs orders is limited to the legal costs of the parties.
	Subsection 1 inserts new section 25A into the TCEA which provides that when a relevant participant has acted "improperly, unreasonably or negligently" and as a result, the Tribunal’s resources have been wasted, then the First-tier or Upper Tribunal may charge the participant.
	A charge may be made against a relevant participant in proceedings, which will include legal and other representatives of the parties, and also the Secretary of State (where they have not instructed a legal representative). The amounts charged under this section must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
	The power is subject to Tribunal Procedure Rules and amendment is also made to Schedule 5 to the TCEA to specify that rules made by the Tribunal Procedure Committee may include rules under this power.