‘Anyone who has ever tried to study judicial review in England and Wales empirically knows it is a little like digging for gold without a metal detector: it is difficult to know where to dig and there is also no guarantee that you will find what you are looking for.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 1st April 2021
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Imam, R (On the Application Of) v The London Borough of Croydon (2021) EWHC 739 (Admin). This is the judgment in a judicial review claim seeking a declaration that Croydon was in breach of its statutory duty under section 193(2) of the Housing Act 1996 to provide suitable accommodation, and for mandatory relief, that Croydon provide suitable accommodation, and consider the claimant’s application for band 1 housing priority.’
Nearly Legal, 28th March 2021
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘The Independent Review of Administrative Law has now reported. For a review process that was unnecessarily quick, the Expert Panel, led by Lord Faulks QC, has produced a substantial and detailed analysis. The Report has rightly drawn broad support from across the political spectrum—even if the Government’s support for the report has been accompanied by a new consultation which departs from the Report’s findings on various important points. No doubt, the focus will now shift to the new consultation. However, in this post we want to respectfully take issue with one of the firm conclusions of the Panel: that Cart judicial reviews ought to be discontinued on the basis they are a disproportionate use of judicial resource.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 29th March 2021
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Ministers could be stopped from using self-destructing messages to conduct government business, following a legal challenge supported by an alliance of transparency campaigners and university archivists.’
The Guardian, 29th March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation on giving the courts the power to suspend quashing orders, removing so-called “Cart judgments”, and introducing a series of changes to civil procedure rules, following recommendations by the Independent Review of Administrative Law (IRAL) led by Lord Faulks QC.’
Local Government Lawyer, 19th March 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Plans to change how government decisions are challenged in the courts have been announced by the justice secretary.’
BBC News, 18th March 2021
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A blind woman who was sent a shielding letter she could not read has won “promising” commitments from the government after a legal challenge.’
BBC News, 19th March 2021
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘An Administrative Court judge should have decided a point of statutory construction about the timetable for producing amended education health and care (EHC) plans instead of declining to do so since it was academic, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
Local Government Lawyer, 18th March 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Supreme Court has come under significant criticism for its handling of the Shamima Begum case, decided on 26 February. Much has already been said in relation to the deference that the court showed to the executive, with some arguing that it was improper or even a complete abdication of the judicial role itself. This post seeks to clarify what precisely the court did and did not do in relation to the exercise of its constitutional duty to review the legality of executive action. It will suggest that the Court did not engage in any strong deference as to the nature of Begum’s rights nor to the balance to be struck between those rights and the common good. Such questions remained wholly within the purview of the Court. While the Court did pay due respect to the executive’s authority to determine and pursue the common good, this was subject to an assessment of lawfulness. Any deference, if it can even be called deference, was to the rule of law, given both the statutory scheme in question and the common law distinction between review and appeal. The determination of the scope of individual rights entails an exercise of judicial interpretation which seeks to strike an appropriate balance between the applicable legal considerations. It is not deference for the court to include constitutional principles such as the separation of powers within those considerations.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 17th March 2021
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The high court has rejected a legal bid for an extension to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS), dismissing campaigners’ concerns that those EU residents who fail to apply to remain in the UK before July could face “devastating” consequences, similar to those experienced by the Windrush generation.’
The Guardian, 11th March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Guidance on the sex question in the UK census must be changed before the official day to complete it on 21 March, a high court judge has ruled.’
The Guardian, 9th March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The number of judicial review applications received by local authorities in 2020 was down slightly (2.8%) on the previous 12 months, Ministry of Justice data has revealed.’
Local Government Lawyer, 9th March 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Ms Shamima Begum was born and raised in the UK. She was a British citizen at birth and at age 15 she travelled to Syria with two friends and soon afterwards she married an ISIS fighter and is currently detained in poor conditions in the Al-Roj camp run by the Syrian Democratic Forces. She now wishes to return home to the UK to have a fair and effective appeal. She was deprived of her British citizenship on 19 February 2019 because the SSHD believed that her return would present a risk to national security. She applied for leave to enter (LTE) the UK so that she could pursue an appeal against the deprivation decision. The Court of Appeal unanimously held that the only way Ms Begum, can have a fair and effective appeal is to be permitted to come into the UK to pursue her appeal. King, Flaux and Singh LJJ found that fairness and justice must – on the facts of her case – outweigh any national security concerns. But in a twist of fate, the Supreme Court unanimously held in favour of the SSHD and found that the right to a fair hearing does not trump everything else, such as the public’s safety. The court took the view that if a vital public interest makes it impossible for a case to be fairly heard, then the courts cannot ordinarily hear it. Therefore, her deprivation appeal should be stayed until she can play an effective part in it without compromising the public’s safety.’
EIN Blog, 7th March 2021
Source: www.ein.org.uk
‘The Claimant, Mr Minott, applied to Cambridge City Council as homeless in March 2019 and was provided with interim accommodation under s188(1) Housing Act 1996. However the performance of the relief duty under s189B(2) Housing Act 1996 was subsequently referred to Sandwell MBC, on the footing that Mr Minott had a local connection with the district of that authority but did not have a local connection with the district of Cambridge.’
Garden Court Chambers, 26th February 2021
Source: www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk
‘These rights have been central to many key justice fights in the past 20 years, and we can’t allow politicians to take them away.’
The Guardian, 3rd March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Sophie Basma (“Sophie”) is 10. She suffers from Type 3 Spinal Muscular Atrophy (“SMA”). SMA is a rare, genetic, neuromuscular disease which progressively leads to sufferers being unable to walk or sit unaided with devastating consequences on their quality of life. Sophie can no longer walk. There is medication for SMA sufferers which would have had the potential of helping Sophie regain her ability to work. But the NHS Trust had concluded that Sophie did not meet the eligibility criteria for this new medication, “Nusinersen”.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 4th March 2021
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘The Supreme Court will next week consider whether section 61N of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which deals with legal challenges to neighbourhood development orders, should be interpreted to mean that the appellant’s application for judicial review was made out of time.’
Local Government Lawyer, 2nd March 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A High Court judge has handed down a ruling in a disagreement over whether two boys should be given respite placement accommodation in a residential home in the Greater Manchester area or in an exclusively orthodox Jewish residential home in London.’
Local Government Lawyer, 2nd March 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘An 11-month-old baby and her mother are bringing a case in the high court to try to secure the baby’s right to free vitamins, formula milk and nutritious food.’
The Guardian, 1st March 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘R (The Motherhood Plan and Anor) v HM Treasury [2021] EWHC 309 (Admin). In a judgment handed down on 17 February 2021, the High Court has ruled that the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (“the Scheme”) introduced during the coronavirus pandemic does not indirectly discriminate against self-employed women who have taken a period of leave relating to maternity or pregnancy in the last three tax years.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 26th February 2021
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
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