Consultation requirements
The claimant challenged a decision of the respondent reducing the benefits under the Council Tax Reduction Scheme reducing Council Tax for those in need, saying that the Council’s consultation had been inadequate.
Held: The consultation was procedurally unfair because the consultation documentation gave a misleading impression in failing to mention other ways of absorbing the shortfall in funding which the proposed scheme was intended to meet.
Lord Reid said: ‘This case is . . concerned with a statutory duty of consultation. Such duties vary greatly depending on the particular provision in question, the particular context, and the purpose for which the consultation is to be carried out. The duty may, for example, arise before or after a proposal has been decided upon; it may be obligatory or may be at the discretion of the public authority; it may be restricted to particular consultees or may involve the general public; the identity of the consultees may be prescribed or may be left to the discretion of the public authority; the consultation may take the form of seeking views in writing, or holding public meetings; and so on and so forth. The content of a duty to consult can therefore vary greatly from one statutory context to another: ‘the nature and the object of consultation must be related to the circumstances which call for it’ . . Meaningful public participation in this particular decision-making process, in a context with which the general public cannot be expected to be familiar, requires that the consultees should be provided not only with information about the draft scheme, but also with an outline of the realistic alternatives, and an indication of the main reasons for the authority’s adoption of the draft scheme.’
Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Reed
[2014] UKSC 56, [2014] WLR(D) 486, [2014] 1 WLR 3947, UKSC 2013/0116, [2014] LGR 823, [2015] 1 All ER 495, [2014] PTSR 1317
Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary, SC Summary, SC
Welfare Reform Act 2012
England and Wales
Citing:
At first instance – M and S, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Haringey Admn 7-Feb-2013
The claimants challenged changes to the system of housing benefits.
Held: The claims were dismissed. . .
Cited – Regina v Brent London Borough Council ex parte Gunning 1985
The demands of fair consultation procedures will vary from case to case and will depend on the factors involved. The requirements are: ‘First, that consultation must be at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage. Second, that the . .
Cited – Baker, Regina (on the Application of) v Devon County Council CA 21-Dec-1992
The plaintiffs appealed against orders dismissing claims for judicial review. They had challenged the intended closure of residential homes for old people. The plaintiffs said that there had been inadequate consultation, and the Councils argued that . .
Cited – Regina v North and East Devon Health Authority ex parte Coughlan and Secretary of State for Health Intervenor and Royal College of Nursing Intervenor CA 16-Jul-1999
Consultation to be Early and Real Listening
The claimant was severely disabled as a result of a road traffic accident. She and others were placed in an NHS home for long term disabled people and assured that this would be their home for life. Then the health authority decided that they were . .
Cited – Birkett v Acorn Business Machines Limited CA 16-Jul-1999
The parties had entered into a contract, which both knew was to be used to defraud a third party finance company. When one sued the other for breach, the court refused to order the contract to be enforced when he became aware of the fraud.
Cited – Osborn v The Parole Board SC 9-Oct-2013
Three prisoners raised questions as to the circumstances in which the Parole Board is required to hold an oral hearing before making an adverse decision. One of the appeals (Osborn) concerned a determinate sentence prisoner who was released on . .
Cited – Salat v Barutis CA 20-Nov-2013
The claimant had been knocked from his motor cyle by the defendant. He hired a replacement, but when he sought payment of the associated hire charges, the defendant said that the hire company had failed to comply with the 208 Regulations, and that . .
Cited – Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust v Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts and Another Admn 7-Nov-2011
The claimant, the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust sought to quash as flawed and unlawful a consultation by the first defendant concerning the reconfiguration of paediatric congenital cardiac services (PCCS) in England. . .
Cited – Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, Regina (on The Application of) v Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts and Another CA 19-Apr-2012
The defendant appealed against a finding that its consultation over the rationalisation of pediatric cardiac surgical facilities had been defective and unlawful. . .
Cited – Fletcher v Minister of Town and Country Planning 1947
A local authority being consulted about the government’s proposed designation of Stevenage as a ‘new town’ would be likely to be able to respond satisfactorily to a presentation of less specificity than would members of the public, particularly . .
Cited – Nichol v Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council CA 1988
Gateshead, confronted by a falling birth rate and therefore an inability to sustain a viable sixth form in all its secondary schools, decided to set up sixth form colleges instead. Local parents had failed to establish that Gateshead’s prior . .
Cited – The Mayor and Corporation of Port Louis v The Honourable Attorney General of Mauritiuis PC 27-Apr-1965
Meaningful public participation in a decision-making process, in a context with which the general public cannot be expected to be familiar, requires that the consultees should be provided not only with information about the draft scheme, but also . .
Cited – Medway Council and Kent County Council, Essex County Council, Mead; Fossett v Secretary of State for Transport Admn 26-Nov-2002
. .
Cited – BAPIO Action Ltd and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Another CA 9-Nov-2007
The action group appealed against refusal of a judicial review of guidelines as to the employment of non-EU doctors, saying that they were in effect immigration rules and issuable only under the 1971 Act. The court had said that since the guidance . .
Cited by:
Cited – Robson and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Salford City Council CA 20-Jan-2015
The appellants, all severely disabled appealed against the refusal of their judicial review of the substantial withdrawal by the Council of a service providing them with transport to local day care facilities. They said that the council had failed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Administrative, Benefits
Leading Case
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.538151