Specialist Courts and Tribunals

Contents

Specialist Courts
Tribunals and Authorities  
Statistics

Specialist Courts   

Employment Court                         

There were 185 new cases filed in the Employment Court in 2016 compared to 170 cases filed in the previous year. The Court cleared more cases than were received, with 190 disposals. The number of active cases increased slightly from 114 to 119 over the last year.                                            

Environment Court                         

Filing figure trends have increased quite significantly with 496 applications filed in 2016, which is 34% higher than the previous year (371). This increase in the number of new applications relates mostly to appeals as a result of several plan reviews that attracted a large number of applications to the Environment Court.

The court disposed of 434 cases in 2016 compared with 428 in the previous year. The number of active cases increased from 386 at 31 December 2015 to 457.         

Coronial Services                          

There has been a 3% decrease in referrals to the Coroner, with 5,500 referrals in the 2016 year compared to 5,647 in the previous year.

The number of cases resolved has decreased by 9%, with 5,108 cases resolved in 2016 compared to 5,636 in the previous year.

The number of active cases has increased from 2,989 as at 31 December 2015 to 3,397 as at 31 December 2016.

Māori Land Court                         

There were 6,037 new cases filed in the court during 2016. This is slightly lower, by just 0.1%, than the 6,046 new cases filed in the previous year. Over the same period, the volume of cases disposed increased by 3% from 5,722 to 5,875 cases.

The number of active cases in the Māori Land Court has increased by 4% from 4,240 at 31 December 2015 to 4,396 cases at 31 December 2016.                        

Tribunals and Authorities        

Tenancy Tribunal                        

In 2016 the Tenancy Tribunal accounted for 55% of new business in the tribunals and authorities administered by the Ministry of Justice (excluding Disputes Tribunal figures, which are reported separately). New business increased slightly with 18,985 applications lodged in 2016, compared to 18,885 in the previous year.                        
The tribunal disposed of 19,067 cases in 2016, a 1% increase in disposals compared to 18,948 the previous year.                
The number of active cases on hand as at 31 December 2016 was 179 which are lowers than 256 at the end of the previous year.        

Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority                         

The Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority represented 32% of new business for tribunals and authorities in 2016.    

In 2016 there were 11,131 applications filed, a significant increase of 74% compared to the previous year, when there were 6,380 applications. This increase is related to the upcoming need for additional security guards at major public events. The Authority disposed of 7,916 applications in 2016, a decrease of 15% compared to the previous year when 9,267 applications were disposed.                    

The number of active applications at 31 December 2016 is 5,051, which is significantly higher than 1,832 in the previous year.    

Immigration and Protection Tribunal                         

The Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) represented approximately 4% of the tribunals and authorities new business in 2016. The IPT received 1,281 cases during this time, a 7% decrease compared to the previous year when there were 1,197 cases received.                    
A total of 1,463 cases were disposed during 2016 compared to 1,596 disposals in the previous year.                        
In 2016, the clearance rate was 1.1 which has resulted in the number of active cases decreasing by 38% from 830 cases in 2015 to 517 cases a year later.                                    

Disputes Tribunal                         

Comparing the 2016 calendar year to 2015, the Disputes Tribunal has seen a:        

• 1% increase in new claims from 13,099 to 13,243
• 6% decrease in the disposals of claims from 13,932 to 13,114; and
• 17% increase in the number of active claims from 2,606 as at 31 December 2015 to 3,040 at 31 December 2016.                        

Statistics