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Guide to Searching for Decisions
Law Centre (NI) Library
Commissioners Decisions
The Law Centre holds a selection of Commissioners Decisions for both GB and Northern Ireland. Reported decisions for Great Britain are held from 1981, and for Northern Ireland from 1948. A selection of unreported decisions, both from GB and NI is also held, mainly dating from the 1990s to the present, together with a few earlier unreported decisions. Decisions can be faxed or posted out to Law Centre members on request. The librarian works part-time and is currently available all day Tuesday, all day Thursday and half-day on Friday.
Court Decisions
A selection of UK Social Security Court Decisions is also held in the library and is arranged alphabetically by the name of the plaintiff.
Selected European Court cases and ECHR Cases are also available.
Commissioners Decisions on the Web
1. Social Security Agency, Department for Social Development (NI)
http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index/ssa.htm
The law and legislation section of this site contains the Northern Ireland Digest of Case-Law (known as NIDOC) which is maintained by the Decision Making and Appeals Unit of the DSD. It enables access to important N.I. (generally "reported") decisions from 1972 up to 1999 and all decisions from 2000. You can search by benefit, by topic or by year.
The benefit law section of this site contains the Northern Ireland Digest of Case-Law (known as NIDOC) which is maintained by the Decision Making and Appeals Unit of the DSD. It enables access to important N.I. (generally "reported") decisions from 1972 up to 1999 and all decisions from 2000. You can search by benefit, by topic or by year.
2. Social Security and Child Support Commissioners
www.osscsc.gov.uk/decisions/decisions.htm
Selected GB decisions, 2000 – 2001 and all GB unreported decisions from 2002
These are scrollable and are listed in date order. Other access is via a search engine where subject/case reference number/commissioner’s name etc. can be used to locate particular cases.
Starred GB decisions, 1990
These are listed by starred case number with summaries and original case number but only some are downloadable. If reported, the reported number is also given and the full decision can be printed using the search engine
Reported GB decisions, 1991
Search engine can be used to locate case reference numbers by plaintiff (higher court decisions) or subject. There is also a facility for scrolling down the original unreported numbers to find the reported number.
3. Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/docs/commdecs
This website has recently been restructured and provides an easy route to tracing GB Reported decisions from 1991 onwards, where the decision citation is known.
4. Rightsnet
If you are regularly hunting for cases it may be worthwhile subscribing to Rightsnet. In addition to providing up-to-date news on developments affecting benefits, the Briefcase section on Rightsnet contains summaries, arranged by benefit, of all recent commissioners' decisions.
As well as this, more than 1500 decisions from the late 1940's to the 1990's, many unavailable elsewhere on the internet, can be found here.
Court Decisions on the Web
1. British and Irish Legal Information Institute
Contains Court of Appeal, High Court and House of Lords decisions for GB, and N. Ireland as well as Court decisions from the Republic of Ireland.
2. European Court of Human Rights Portal (HUDOC)
A searchable database covering judgements of the ECHR from1955 on.
3. European Court of Justice (CURIA)
curia.europa.eu/en/content/juris/index_rep.htm
Gives numerical access to judgements of the ECJ and includes a search facility.
If All Else Fails
If the case you need is not available through the Law Centre or on the web you could try contacting in the first instance :
The Decision Making and Appeals Unit of the Department for Social Development (NI)
Telephone: 028 9072 8736/8731 - and if no luck there:
The Decisions Section of the Offices of the GB Social Security Commissioners (OSSC)
Telephone: 0207 911 7085
Copies obtained from this source can generally be emailed.
Scottish Decisions – Office of the Social Security Commissioners, Edinburgh
Telephone: 0131 225 2201 (no charge for this service).
Rightsnet - already mentioned above (www.rightsnet.org.uk) as a source for decisions, also contains a discussion group. Many people with practical knowledge and experience in this area contribute and there is a general willingness to send copies of decisions via email or to give help in tracking down decisions relating to a particular area.
