Every tribunal has a Tribunal Judge and two specialist members. Any new Judges are appointed by the Lord Chancellor on the advice of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC). There are currently 58 chairs, of whom 34 are women.

To qualify as members they must have knowledge and experience of children with special educational needs and be ineligible for appointment as Tribunal Judges.

How to become a Tribunal Judge

To become a Tribunal Judge you must satisfy the judicial-appointment eligibility condition on a 5-year basis

When SEND needs additional chairs the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) will advertise the vacancies in the national press and legal journals. A board will interview selected candidates and make recommendations for appointments to the Lord Chancellor. The President of the HESC chamber or nominee will normally be a member of the interview panel.

The Lord Chancellor will normally consider for first appointment to a part-time office only those aged upto 70. Part-time office-holders are appointed for 5 years and their appointments may be extended for further periods of up to 5 years thereafter subject to the grounds for non-renewal. Due to the nature of the workload of this tribunal, no guarantee will be given on the number of sitting days that will be offered to post-holders. However, the allocation of work is a judicial function and, subject to overriding operational requirements, all post-holders will be offered work on the same basis.

How to become a specialist member

A person is eligible if they have substantial experience of special educational needs or disabilities depending on the role of the member. Any new members will be appointed by the Lord Chancellor on advice from the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC).

Specialist members of the Tribunal are recruited on 5 year, renewable contracts. The last recruitment exercise was in 2010. When SEND needs new specialist members the JAC will invite applications via the national press.