Health, Education and Social Care Chamber
Welcome from the Chamber President
The Health, Education and Social Care Chamber is one of the largest constituent branches of the First-tier Tribunal, and is an integral part of the overall justice system within the courts and tribunals judiciary of England and Wales.
We deal with more than 40,000 appeals and applications, list over 50,000 judicial sitting days, and conduct some 18,000 hearings per year – serving thousands of appellants, vulnerable individuals, and families annually. We aim to offer accessible justice in all our hearings by operating a video hearing service, together with in-person hearings in court locations throughout England in Special Educational Needs and Disability appeals, and in England and Wales in Care Standards and Primary Health List cases. We also have the option of sitting in hospitals and hospital trust premises in England in Mental Health cases.
Each jurisdiction within the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber, like every case, is unique. I am proud of the dedication of the 1400 judges and judicial officer holders in this Chamber who work to bring justice to the communities we serve every day. They fulfil their duties as an independent and impartial judiciary by providing fair and accessible justice, in accordance with the legislative schemes we operate within and the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber procedural rules.
This website is one expression of our commitment to providing accessible and relevant information that we hope you find useful, whether you are a litigant, representative, member of the legal profession, or simply curious about the way in which the judiciary operates in Britain. We have retained and reformatted our content and included links to other sites to help provide you with an integrated view of the justice system and the part the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber plays within it. We will be developing and adding content to the site over time.
Judge Mark Sutherland Williams
Chamber President
Royal Courts of Justice, London
Special Educational Needs and Disability, Care Standards and Primary Health Lists (SEND)
Find out more about SEND as well as information about discrimination, standards and health lists
Mental Health Tribunal
Find out more information about the Mental Health Tribunal (England) and its work
HESC news and updates
Find out what’s going on around the Chamber