Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber

[2025] UKUT 323 (AAC)

Fecha: 23-Sep-2025

Case law on adequacy of reasons

Case law on adequacy of reasons

29.

The parties have referred me to the following authorities, which re-state well-established principles.

30.

Judge Citron in AG v Brent Council [2024] UKUT 166 (AAC) at [14]-[15]:

14.

There are many well-known authorities on adequacy of reasons. The

Respondent cited Meek v City of Birmingham DC [1987] IRLR 250, where Lord Bingham (then in the Court of Appeal) said (at paragraph 8):

It has on a number of occasions been made plain that the decision of an Industrial Tribunal is not required to be an elaborate formalistic product of a refined legal draftsmanship but it must contain an outline of the story which has given rise to the complaint and a summary of the tribunal’s basic factual conclusions and a statement of the reasons which led them to reach the conclusion which they do so on those basic facts. The parties are entitled to be told why they have won or lost. There should be a sufficient account of the facts and the reasoning to enable the EAT or on further appeal this court to see whether the question of law arises…

15.

As this appeal concerns certain arguable “gaps” in the tribunal’s reasoning, I have also borne in mind the following well-known principles:

the reasons of the tribunal must be considered as a whole.

the appellate court should not limit itself to what is explicitly shown on the face of the decision; it should also have regard to that which is implicit in the decision. R v Immigration Appeal Tribunal, ex parte Khan [1983] QB 790 (per Lord Lane CJ at page 794) was cited by Floyd LJ in UT (Sri Lanka) v SSHD [2019] EWCA Civ 1095 at [27] as explaining that the issues which a tribunal decides and the basis on which the tribunal reaches its decision may be set out directly or by inference.

the following was said in English v Emery Reimbold & Strick Ltd [2002] 1 WLR 2409 (a classic authority on the adequacy of reasons), on the question of the context in which apparently inadequate reasons of a trial judge are to be read:

“26.
Where permission is granted to appeal on the grounds that the judgment does not contain adequate reasons, the appellate court should first review the judgment, in the context of the material evidence and submissions at the trial, in order to determine whether, when all of these are considered, it is apparent why the judge reached the decision that he did. If satisfied that the reason is apparent and that it is a valid basis for the judgment, the appeal will be dismissed. … If despite this exercise the reason for the decision is not apparent, then the appeal court will have to decide whether itself to proceed to a rehearing or to direct a new trial.
….
118.
... There are two lessons to be drawn from these appeals. The first is that, while it is perfectly acceptable for reasons to be set out briefly in a judgment, it is the duty of the judge to produce a judgment that gives a clear explanation for his or her order. The second is that an unsuccessful party should not seek to upset a judgment on the ground of inadequacy of reasons unless, despite the advantage of considering the judgment with knowledge of the evidence given and submissions made at the trial, that party is unable to understand why it is that the judge has reached an adverse decision.”