Volunteer Adjudicator—Complaints Panel; Remote

Time commitment: Variable, but with an expected minimum of 3-5 hours a month

Location: This role is normally carried out through remote working, via zoom meetings

Closing date: 16 th August 2026 Interviews are expected to take place in the 3 weeks starting 24 th August.

This role is only open to current members of the Liberal Democrats. Holders of some offices within the party are not eligible for the role. Please see the job description for a full list of exclusions.

It is recommended that you read the full job description before applying for this role.

You are very welcome to get in touch before making an application if you wish to understand more about the role. We can put you in touch with someone with experience of the role to discuss your potential application if you would like.

Applicants are encouraged to inform us if any reasonable adjustments are needed to be made during any part of the recruitment process.

Job Description:
Adjudicator

The Role

An adjudicator is a volunteer trained to consider complaints about individuals who are member of the Liberal Democrats which are submitted through the party’s Complaints system. Adjudicators make decisions whether to uphold complaints or not, and where a complaint is upheld, they determine the sanction that will be applied.

Adjudicators do not act alone. They sit on panels made up of 3 adjudicators brought together to consider each case individually. Cases may be determined on written evidence or through hearings. An adjudicator may also sit on an appeals panel, where a complainant or respondent has asked for the decision to be reviewed. No adjudicator will take part in an appeal where they were part of the initial panel that made the decision.

The administrative work of setting up a panel is carried out by Standards Office staff, at the request of the Senior Adjudicator Team, which consists of the Lead Adjudicator, who has overall responsibility for complaints, and 3 adjudicators representing the 3 state parties. There is a separate appointments process for the SAT roles.

For each panel, one adjudicator will be nominated as the chair, and it is their responsibility to ensure that the panel runs smoothly, the process is correctly followed and the decision communicated back to the Standards Office.

Adjudicators may in addition be asked to act as investigators, to obtain further information if required by a panel, or as process mentors, to provide assistance to complainants or respondents on the operation of the Complaints process.

At full strength the adjudicator team consists of 40 people.

The time commitment for this role can vary according to the availability and flexibility of adjudicators.. Approximately 20 – 25 panels are held each quarter, which means an average commitment of 1 – 2 panels per month per adjudicator. A panel hearing can be quite short or may last several hours.

What makes a good adjudicator?

The main qualities that are needed are:

• The ability to make decisions based on the evidence in front of you, and to exclude irrelevant information. This includes being able to recognise the difference between allegations which are supported by independently verifiable factual evidence and those which are not. This also requires the ability to recognise when there is insufficient evidence provided to enable a decision to be made.
• The ability to be impartial and fair. This includes ensuring that both sides in a complaint have equal access to information and equal opportunities to present their case. It also means remaining calm in what may be upsetting or challenging hearings, and not expressing support for one side or the other, or allowing your own views on issues to prejudice your judgement.
• The ability to maintain appropriate confidentiality throughout the complaint process. This includes not disclosing the details of the case to people outside it. It also involves not disclosing the details of panel discussions.
• Organisational skills. This includes the ability to plan ahead and commit to hearing dates; responding to emails and calls about hearings in a timely manner; allowing sufficient time for reading papers to prepare for hearings; and the…