Aug 15, 2022
The defendant in a long-running planning enforcement case over what has been dubbed “Britain’s biggest man cave” has been committed to prison for six weeks for contempt of court.
Aug 15, 2022
The Goverment has launched a consultation on an expanded approvals process for employee exits and special severance payments (SSPs), and additional reporting requirements, in relevant parts of central government and certain other public bodies.
Aug 12, 2022
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has launched a consultation on the Biodiversity Metric to be used for the purpose of calculating Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) as required under the 2021 Environment Act.
Aug 12, 2022
A judicial review claim has halted a referendum on a Wiltshire neighbourhood plan days before it was set to take place.
Aug 12, 2022
The Open Rights Group and London Assembly Member Sian Berry are crowd funding a legal challenge to the Mayor of London over his decision to expand the scope of data-sharing with the Metropolitan Police from Transport for London’s (TfL’s) Automated Number-Plate Recognition road cameras.
Aug 12, 2022
A judicial review challenge of Lambeth Council's planning approval of a plan that would demolish part of a 1970s estate will be heard in November, making it the fourth judicial review application concerning the estate in seven years.
Aug 11, 2022
Harborough District Council is investigating why councillors were removed from a meeting of its audit and standards committee in March.
Aug 11, 2022
A Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation has found that Hampshire County Council expected a young child with special educational needs to travel on their own in a taxi to school – or face a three-hour round-trip in shared transport, which would exceed its own guidance on the…
Aug 11, 2022
The number of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) applications received in England grew in 2021-22 by 5.5%, while the proportion of standard applications completed within the statutory timeframe of 21 days dropped to 20% (down from 24% in the previous year), according to a report from NHS…
Aug 11, 2022
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has reported significant increases both in the number of new complaints received about public services and in Code of Conduct investigations finding serious concerns.
Aug 11, 2022
The High Court has rejected two challenges to a decision by Wealden District Council to allow a 205-home development on land previously used for equestrian activities.
Aug 11, 2022
The Supreme Court has granted permission to appeal in a key case on planning permissions, environmental impact assessment (EIA) and downstream effects, it has been reported.
Aug 11, 2022
Adult social care services are buckling “under unprecedented pressures” with 600 people a day joining waiting lists to be assessed for care and support in England.
Aug 11, 2022
A local amenity group has lost a judicial review brought against St Albans City and District Council over planning consent for a 150-home residential development on Green Belt land.
Aug 11, 2022
A professional negligence suit brought by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) and E20 Stadium against a City law firm - over the drafting of a concession agreement entered into with Premier League club West Ham for the stadium used in the London Olympics - has been settled.
Aug 11, 2022
The Law Society has denounced the Government’s proposed reforms to compulsory purchase as a threat to human rights.
Aug 11, 2022
More than 1,500 homes have returned to public ownership under London’s ‘right-to-buy-back’ scheme, the capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan has said.
Aug 11, 2022
Parents of Holland Park School students have launched a third judicial review application in four months over a decision to move the school from a single-academy trust to a multi-academy trust.
Aug 10, 2022
The Local Government Association has issued a briefing on the Local Government (Disqualification) Act 2022, providing an overview of the legislation's background and its implications for councils and councillors.
Aug 09, 2022
The Welsh Language Tribunal has dismissed Swansea Council's appeal of a report from the Welsh Language Commissioner, which found the local authority had failed to consider the impact of the sale of an ex-school site on the Welsh language.
Aug 09, 2022
Bevan Brittan has advised housing association ForHousing, which owns and manages 24,000 homes across Greater Manchester, Knowsley and Cheshire, on securing £60m long-term funding to enable it to continue to invest in existing and new affordable homes.
Aug 09, 2022
A London landlord who repeatedly failed to comply with licensing regulations, including refusal to provide a kitchen for a tenant, has been ordered to pay £40,000 in fine and costs.
Aug 09, 2022
Law firm DAC Beachcroft saw its total turnover rise to £280m for the year ended 30 April 2022, up 2%.
Aug 09, 2022
Durham County Council has awarded a contract to Civica UK for legal services case management, time recording and court bundling system.
Aug 09, 2022
The Local Government Association (LGA) has published a briefing on the Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022, which outlines the Act's main provisions and practical steps councils can take to prepare.
Aug 08, 2022
Lord Evans, Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL), has called on Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to commit to implementing the recommendations in the watchdog’s 2021 report Upholding Standards in Public Life.
Aug 08, 2022
The Court of Appeal has ruled that foreign judicial findings or convictions that are relevant to a person's suitability to care for children may be used as evidence in family proceedings.
Aug 08, 2022
The Cabinet at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council has agreed to serve notice on a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract for three buildings.
Aug 08, 2022
A man who failed to comply with the requirements of two enforcement notices for an illegal development by the banks of the River Thames has been fined £13,000.
Aug 08, 2022
A criminal law specialist has been elected as incoming deputy vice president of the Law Society and is set to become president for 2024/25.
Aug 08, 2022
The London Boroughs’ Legal Alliance (LBLA) has named the firms appointed to its new Solicitors Panel, which is worth potentially £16m over four years.
Aug 08, 2022
The Government has launched the Public Sector Fraud Authority and set it a target of £180m of identified fraud benefits in its first year.
Aug 08, 2022
A local authority that plans to place a family in a residential family centre must first determine its registration status and the qualifications of the staff who will be interacting, supporting and assessing the family, the High Court has said.
Aug 05, 2022
A landlord has been given 24 weeks’ custody suspended for 18 months after being found guilty of the illegal eviction of his former tenant.
Aug 05, 2022
One of the largest housing associations in the UK, Notting Hill Genesis, is to re-procure its legal services framework, which is estimated to be worth up to £30m.
Aug 05, 2022
Leeds City Council is to procure a barristers framework estimated to be worth up to £450,000.
Aug 05, 2022
A former health adviser at an NHS trust in Warwickshire has been found guilty of accessing medical records of patients without a valid legal reason.
Aug 05, 2022
Phillip Horsfield, Assistant Director - Legal Services at Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and a former president of Lawyers in Local Government (LLG), is standing for election to the Yorkshire and Humberside seat for the Law Society Council.
Aug 04, 2022
The High Court has found against the London Borough of Brent in a case concerning the age of an asylum seeker even though Mr Justice Swift said the council’s conduct was “not an error of the most serious nature”.
Aug 04, 2022
Three independent councillors in Buckinghamshire have defeated a High Court challenge to their election in 2021.
Aug 04, 2022
The Court of Appeal has dismissed a resident’s claim that Cornwall Council unlawfully applied its planning policy in a dispute over the building of a home in a hamlet named Trevarrian.
Aug 04, 2022
The High Court has ruled against an applicant in a planning case over whether or not a building was completed.
Aug 04, 2022
Attorney General Suella Braverman has told officials to scrap diversity training in the Government Legal Department (GLD).
Aug 04, 2022
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has criticised Liverpool City Council for not ensuring two teenage siblings with significant needs were provided with the support they should have received for 18 months.
Aug 04, 2022
The London Borough of Lambeth has been told by the High Court to find accommodation for a family within 12 weeks even though the applicant wishes to live outside the borough.
Aug 04, 2022
The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration at housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley (MTVH) over its failings in responding to a silverfish infestation at a resident’s flat.
Aug 04, 2022
The five local planning authorities in Oxfordshire have ended work on a joint plan for the area, after failing to reach agreement on the approach to planning for future housing needs.
Aug 03, 2022
A High Court judge has rejected an appeal by the proprietor of a pub in Billingham in Teesside over the proposed transfer to Leeds from London of a dispute over the revocation of its licence for contravention of coronavirus regulations.
Aug 02, 2022
The Attorney General, Suella Braverman, has introduced guidance calling on government lawyers to adopt a “private-sector approach” to client service and use “innovative legal thinking".
Aug 02, 2022
The Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner has questioned the legality of a proposed extension in the use of Automatic Number-Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to collect information on vehicle movements to enforce an expanded London-wide Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
Aug 02, 2022
The Institute of Public Care (IPC) at Oxford Brookes University has been commissioned by Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (NFJO) to undertake a study to explore the prevalence and experience of parents with learning disabilities or difficulties involved in care proceedings concerning their…
Aug 02, 2022
Ed Hammond has been appointed interim chief executive at the Centre for Governance & Scrutiny after Andy Fry decided to step down due to a change in personal circumstances.
Aug 02, 2022
Worcestershire County Council has launched the procurement of a legal services framework estimated to be worth up to £25m.
Aug 02, 2022
The UK’s largest housing association, Clarion Housing Group, has appointed 17 law firms to a panel of providers of legal services worth an estimated £40m.
Aug 01, 2022
The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal over a High Court judge’s dismissal of a judicial review challenge to the Government’s decision to end the ‘Everyone In’ initiative that was launched to get rough sleepers off the streets during the pandemic.
Aug 01, 2022
A Family Court judge has dismissed a local authority’s application for un-admitted allegations to be tried, saying he could not see any upside in allowing that to happen.
Aug 01, 2022
Worthing Borough Council has won a statutory review of a planning inspector’s decision to allow a developer’s appeal against refusal of outline planning permission for a 475-home mixed use development on a ‘green gap’ between Goring and Ferring.
Aug 01, 2022
Northumberland Council has reached an agreement with its chief executive, Daljit Lally, “to settle all outstanding disputes as between the county council, its members and officers and the chief executive, including the withdrawal of any and all complaints that any of the parties have against each…
Aug 01, 2022
Tewkesbury Borough Council has successfully prosecuted an individual for knowingly withholding information from the council’s Housing Advice Team and making false statements in order to obtain social housing.
Aug 01, 2022
Mark Rawcliffe, a specialist in child law with extensive experience in all areas, has joined 1GC Family Law with immediate effect.
Aug 01, 2022
The chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has said the watchdog is exploring how best to use its legal powers – including action in the courts – to help patients inappropriately detained in secure hospitals, and their families, amid claims that a Department for Health and…
Jul 29, 2022
The Government Legal Department has released an updated version of its guidance – “the Judge Over Your Shoulder” – that is aimed at helping civil servants navigate the legal frameworks within which public bodies, particularly Government, make decisions.
Jul 29, 2022
The UK's largest union, UNISON, has sent a pre-action letter to the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, over a recent change to the law that allows employers to use agency workers to replace striking staff during industrial disputes.
Jul 29, 2022
A High Court judge has granted a declaration of parentage after finding a Cambridgeshire County Council Registrar wrongly told a parent to pursue an adoption order for her child who was conceived by her partner via in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Jul 29, 2022
Legal regulators will be required to set standards of competence, get a better understanding of lawyers’ competence, and set new measures to ensure standards are maintained, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has said after this week publishing a new statutory statement of policy on ongoing competence.
Jul 28, 2022
A local authority has a power, as a matter of law, to provide financial support for recreational activities and holidays under section 18 of the Care Act 2014, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Jul 28, 2022
Lawyers at Hambleton District Council are assessing the Home Office's response to the local authority's pre-action protocol letter threatening potential legal action over plans for an asylum seekers centre in Linton-on-Ouse.
Jul 28, 2022
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman directed more improvements to local councils in the past year than ever before, its annual review of complaints has revealed.
Jul 28, 2022
A parliamentary committee's proposal to create a 'People's Ombudsman' by uniting the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has been rebuffed once more by the Government.
Jul 28, 2022
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council has paused its direct payments policy and is reviewing its approach after facing potential legal action over its stance that the funds should not be spent on fuel.
Jul 28, 2022
The Court of Appeal has held that the maximum amount of a rent repayment order cannot include rent which was paid - rather than accrued - when the licensing offence concerned was not being committed.
Jul 28, 2022
The Court of Appeal has considered the extent to which judges are required to respond to requests for clarifications in judgments.
Jul 28, 2022
The High Court has granted permission for a challenge to non-disclosure of a report on a child who committed suicide, in a case in which two Welsh public bodies have each argued that the other is responsible for withholding it.
Jul 28, 2022
The High Court has ruled on whether noise nuisance can arise from both the intended use of a sports area and from anti-social behaviour that takes place there.
Jul 28, 2022
Attempts in the Children and Families Act 2014 to improve provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) failed through lack of sufficient powers and funds for councils, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said in its response to the latest round of proposed…
Jul 27, 2022
The High Court has quashed Plymouth City Council's model for awarding financial support to special guardians after finding it failed to take into account the claimant's dependent children.
Jul 27, 2022
Lorraine Cavanagh QC, who practices from St John's Buildings, Manchester, has joined 1GC Family Law as a door tenant.
Jul 27, 2022
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has concluded that Wrexham County Borough Council did not adequately support a vulnerable adult with learning disabilities, who later died.
Jul 27, 2022
The Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation on making mediation compulsory for small claims of up to £10,000.
Jul 27, 2022
The Children’s Commissioner has issued a preview of findings from a project aimed at identifying ways to improve data sharing in child safeguarding systems.
Jul 26, 2022
The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration for Clarion’s cumulative failings in handling repairs to resolve a leak and the problems that followed.
Jul 26, 2022
The Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) has called on those in local government to take up the Government’s stated commitment to work with local authorities and representative organisations “to ensure the hard work done by those in local government is not put at risk by a…
Jul 26, 2022
The proposals to replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) with the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) will – "without substantial changes" – result in weakened safeguards for vulnerable people, the Law Society has claimed.
Jul 26, 2022
The incumbent operator of the National Lottery, Camelot, and IGT, another bidder, have been given permission to appeal the High Court’s decision last month to lift the automatic suspension that prevented the Gambling Commission from formally awarding the fourth National Lottery licence to Allwyn…
Jul 26, 2022
A judicial review application by Buckinghamshire Council contesting a decision by the Secretary of State for Transport and the Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities to approve lorry routes for the construction of High Speed 2 has been refused by the High Court.
Jul 26, 2022
Labour councillors at the London Borough of Barnet have voted to end the council’s outsourcing contracts with Capita (Regional Enterprise).
Jul 26, 2022
The East London Waste Authority is to appoint a legal services provider to a seven-year contract estimated to be worth more than £1.6m.
Jul 26, 2022
Slough Borough Council's consultation on the closure of a day care centre was lawful, and the local authority was not required to assess the individual needs of each service user impacted, the High Court has ruled.
Jul 25, 2022
Westminster City Council has claimed that the capital’s status as a globally recognised shopping destination and business hub is “under threat”, after Government ministers rejected the local authority’s application for a wide-ranging Article 4 Direction.
Jul 25, 2022
A councillor is at the forefront of a potential judicial review challenge to Mid Sussex District Council's approval of a planning document authorising the construction of 1704 homes.
