Q: What is meant by the term “judicial review”?

A: A judicial review is the means by which the courts, on an application of an individual, restrain public bodies when they act unlawfully. That public body could be a Government department, a local authority, a health trust, a school governors’ board or even a housing association landlord.

Q: What can the courts do when a judicial review case is taken?

A: The courts have wide powers. They can quash a decision or order the public body to carry out an act or make a declaration that the act complained of was unlawful. There are also limited powers to award compensation.

Q: What sort of decisions taken by public bodies have been susceptible to judicial review?

A: judicial review cases range from challenging deportation in immigration cases, challenging decisions to de-segregate prisoners and excluding people from the housing register. It has included decisions by the DWP to close the Independent Living Fund for disabled people and Disability Rights UK used the law to fight cuts to disabled people’s services.

Q: Why should the court have a role in challenging a decision made by a government department or a local council.

A: Judicial review is not a process whereby people challenge decisions because they think they are wrong. There is a process whereby the court can challenge public bodies when they act unlawfully. There is a huge difference. Acting unlawfully may range from not following a fair procedure, acting in breach of the rules as to natural justice; that is not giving people who have an interest in the decision a fair opportunity to state their case or acting in breach of a policy or for example, breaching or failing to take into account the Human Rights Act.

Q: Can anyone bring a claim?

A: To bring a claim you must show that you have sufficient interest to give you legal standing. For example, in a case involving a challenge to a running track, I acted for a local resident who used the park for walking his dog. The running track would have interfered with that. The decision to proceed with the running track had not included proper consultation with the local residents.

Q: I have heard that the Government is planning to restrict judicial review cases? How are they doing this?

A: The Government has reduced the time limit people have to bring their cases and to charge more through the courts services to bring a review, so people have to think twice about their costs. It has introduced a new residence test, which effectively knocks on the head almost all the cases involving immigration reviews. It will also restrict people who do not have a settled lifestyle, such as homeless people or those who are mentally ill. In addition, legal aid funding will be removed in cases where the prospects of success are borderline.