Independent Review Panel: CAA personnel licensing and certification decisions

The Independent Review Panel can look at challenges to certain personnel licensing and certification decisions made by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Role

The Department for Transport’s (DfT’s) Independent Review Panel is appointed by ministers to act independently of DfT and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to review certain regulatory decisions made by CAA.

You can ask for the panel to review a decision if you think there was a procedural injustice or irregularity when CAA made a licensing or certification decision affecting an individual and you have exhausted CAA’s internal review processes (excluding Regulation 6 reviews).

DfT uses the services of the panel which considers the issues, provides conclusions and recommends solutions. This is a free, independent and impartial service.

If you want to have your case reviewed, your first step should always be to go through CAA’s complaints and review process. The panel will consider whether CAA followed the correct procedures when reaching a regulatory decision.

How the Independent Review Panel works

The panel will need to see the letters and emails exchanges between you and CAA. CAA aims to send this material directly to the panel within 5 working days of you asking to have the eligible regulatory decision reviewed by the panel.

The panel will decide how best to deal with your case and will then contact you directly. The panel will usually contact you by email or post. They may want to speak to you by telephone to check the facts.

You must let the panel and CAA know if you change address, email or phone number while your complaint is with the panel.

When the panel has reviewed your case, they will write to you with details of what they’ve decided. The panel cannot overturn a decision that CAA has made, but they can make a recommendation to CAA to revisit the case if they found there were process failings. CAA then decides how they wish to respond. Their letter will explain what to do if you have any further concerns.

The panel will aim to review your case within 6 weeks. They’ll tell you if they expect it to take longer.

Cases that the panel can review

The panel might be able to review a case if CAA has refused to issue, or has proposed to vary, provisionally suspend, suspend or revoke licences or authorisations for individuals, that affect:

  • flight crew (including licensing action taken as a result of an airspace infringement, as well as licensing decisions taken by entities CAA delegates authority to)
  • maintenance engineers
  • air traffic controllers
  • rating and endorsements for instructors and examiners
  • medical fitness decisions
  • aeromedical examiners

The panel can review complaints, affecting relevant individuals, where there is an allegation that:

  • CAA decisions makers did not follow published timelines to reach a decision
  • CAA decision makers did not give individuals an opportunity to provide information which could have impacted a decision
  • CAA decision makers were biased or had a conflict of interest
  • CAA’s policies and procedures were not followed in a fair and proportionate manner

Cases that the panel cannot review

The panel cannot consider:

  • substantive judgements made to reach a regulatory decision or outcome
  • complaints escalated through CAA’s formal complaints process that could be escalated to an independent complaints assessor
  • disputes where the principal focus is upon government, DfT or DfT policy
  • judgements on the level or amount of education or retraining relating to airspace infringements
  • complaints arising from contractual and commercial disputes
  • complaints about the law
  • matters considered by Parliament
  • matters where only a court, tribunal or other panel can decide the outcome
  • decisions taken by, or for, the Secretary of State for Transport
  • ongoing related legal cases
  • ongoing investigations or enquiry
  • how CAA handles requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
  • how CAA handles subject access requests made under the Data Protection Act
  • personnel and disciplinary decisions or actions
  • any professional judgement by a specialist, including, for example, the clinical decisions of doctors

The panel cannot usually look at any request for a review that:

  • has not completed CAA’s internal review stage
  • is more than 14 days old from the date of the internal review decision
  • has already been considered by the Regulation 6 hearing process
  • has already been considered by an independent complaints assessor
  • has been, or is being, investigated by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Contact details

You can apply for your case to be reviewed through CAA’s website.

CAA will refer the case to the panel. Once the panel has received your details, they will contact you to advise you about whether they can review the complaint.

Data protection

The processing of personal data is necessary for the exercise of our functions as a government department. DfT will, under data protection law, be the controller for this information. DfT’s privacy policy has more information about your rights in relation to your personal data, how to complain and how to contact the Data Protection Officer.

The personal data and other information you provide to CAA will be passed to the panel and will be used only to review your case.

The panel will hold your data for up to 2 years only following the completion of their review. This will allow us to respond to any requests from the Parliamentary Ombudsman, acting on your behalf, should you request them to investigate how the panel has handled your case.

Terms of reference

Feedback

The Independent Review Panel is committed to providing the best possible service to complainants. We welcome your feedback.

Membership

Nick Denton

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