Administrative Court Blog

Anxious scrutiny and a troubling school exclusion decision The Court of Appeal (Edis, Elisabeth Laing and Arnold LJJ) has handed down a split judgment in what Arnold LJ (concurring in result with Elisabeth Laing LJ) describes as a “troubling case”. It conc…

Anxious scrutiny and a troubling school exclusion decision administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/a...

Article 8 ECHR and delays in determining asylum applications This case concerns the circumstances under which an applicant may be able to claim a breach of Article 8 ECHR owing to the length of delay in determining their asylum application. It is clear from …

Article 8 ECHR and delays in determining asylum applications administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/21/a...

W v GRP: the functioning of gender recognition law Introduction On 17 October 2025, the Family Division of the England and Wales High Court (Mr Justice Hayden) handed down its judgment in W v Gender Recognition Panel [2025] EWHC 2685 (Fam). The cas…

W v GRP: the functioning of gender recognition law administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/w...

Court of Appeal permits Palestine Action proscription challenge to proceed on two further grounds and dismisses Home Secretary’s alternative remedy argument The Court of Appeal has dismissed the Home Secretary’s alternative remedy argument against the High Court’s grant of permission for Palestine Action’s judicial review challenge against proscription…

Court of Appeal permits Palestine Action proscription challenge to proceed on two further grounds and dismisses Home Secretary’s alternative remedy argument administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/17/c...

Procedural rigour, promptness, and “protective issuing” in judicial review The concept of protective issuing is familiar to litigation lawyers. It involves issuing a claim without any (or without any full) pleaded case when some aspect of the pre-action process has not ye…

Procedural rigour, promptness, and “protective issuing” in judicial review administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/p...

When does anxious scrutiny apply? Divergent views on the High Court The rationality (or Wednesbury) test in judicial review operates notoriously as a “sliding scale”, depending on the particular facts in which it is raised. In what is now the leading case on the ap…

When does anxious scrutiny apply? Divergent views on the High Court administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/w...

The statutory duty to have regard to best interests of children in the context of child refugee families When an adult refugee settles in the UK, they can apply for their children and partner to join them – the applicable policy suggests that reunion rights should be granted, in most cases, “automatic…

The statutory duty to have regard to best interests of children in the context of child refugee families administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/t...

Prisoner rehabilitation and liberty deprivations This case concerns prisoners’ right to access rehabilitation courses under Article 5 ECHR. In short, European and domestic case law has established that in some circumstances, where a prisoner is s…

Prisoner rehabilitation and liberty deprivations administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/p...

Divisional Court publishes CLOSED judgment in successful challenge against exclusion from Afghan data leak relocation scheme On 8 August 2025, the Divisional Court (Dingemans LJ, Chamberlain and Johnson JJ) published the OPEN version of a previously CLOSED judgment, dated 19 April 2024, in which it allowed a claim for ju…

Divisional Court publishes CLOSED judgment in successful challenge against exclusion from Afghan data leak relocation scheme administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/10/d...

School sanctions: powers and duties The education system of England and Wales is governed by a thicket of statutory provisions. Most of these provisions have not been subjected to litigation – educators and civil servants abide by an…

School sanctions: powers and duties administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/s...

High Court green-lights challenge to Palestine Action proscription The High Court (Chamberlain J) has granted a co-founder of Palestine Action (PA) permission to apply for judicial review of the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe PA. Judgment in R (Ammori) v S…

High Court green-lights challenge to Palestine Action proscription administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/h...

The UK Supreme Court’s twin approaches to appellate proportionality There is a lot to unpack in this morning’s Supreme Court judgment in the joint appeals of Shvidler v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Dalston Projects Ltd v …

The UK Supreme Court’s twin approaches to appellate proportionality administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/t...

Dodging ECHR duties: exceptions to the two-child benefit cap The two-child benefit cap is an intensely controversial policy brought in by the last Conservative government, and, despite some murmurings to the contrary, continues to be maintained by the curren…

Dodging ECHR duties: exceptions to the two-child benefit cap administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/28/d...

The Soneji principle and remedial discretion in judicial review It is a familiar principle of public law, and perhaps more generally the law relating to breach of statutory requirements, that where there has been non-compliance with such requirements in taking …

The Soneji principle and remedial discretion in judicial review administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/26/t...

A Gloss on the Friends of the Earth test for what constitutes a materially relevant consideration? The world of planning law once again proves itself to be a motor for the development of public law principles. This time, Lewis LJ saw a chance to develop the public law requirement on decision-mak…

A Gloss on the Friends of the Earth test for what constitutes a materially relevant consideration? administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/24/a...

Freedom of information exemptions: cumulative or independent? The Freedom of Information Act 2000 created a scheme which sets up a general right upon members of the public to have information held by public bodies disclosed to them. This right is, however, su…

Freedom of information exemptions: cumulative or independent? administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/23/f...

The Building Services Act and the presumption against retrospectivity The facts of Adriatic Land 5 Limited v Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point [2025] EWCA Civ 856 are straightforward enough. The applicant landlord owned a large building. That building needed sign…

The Building Services Act and the presumption against retrospectivity

administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/09/t...

High Court and Court of Appeal refuse interim relief in Palestine Action proscription challenge The High Court and Court of Appeal have refused interim relief in Palestine Action’s (“PA”) judicial review of the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe the organisation, following hearings on 4 J…

High Court and Court of Appeal refuse interim relief in Palestine Action proscription challenge administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/07/05/h...

ALR and others: (real) EU law and the Northern Ireland perspective administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/30/a...

Court of Appeal dismisses Liberty’s challenge against EHRC’s Code of Practice consultation administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/26/c...

ALR and others: the human rights dimension This is the second in a three-part analysis of R (ALR and others) v Chancellor of the Exchequer [2025] EWHC 1467 (Admin). In this post, I will look at the core human rights challenges in the judgme…

ALR and others: the human rights dimension administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/23/a...

ALR and others: parliamentary privilege and the haunting of Pepper This is the first in a three-part analysis of R (ALR and others) v Chancellor of the Exchequer [2025] EWHC 1467 (Admin). In this post, I cover the constitutional aspects of the judgment, in particu…

ALR and others: parliamentary privilege and the haunting of Pepper administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/19/a...

Scottish Winter Fuel Payment cuts upheld as lawful The Labour Party’s decision to make changes to Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) has been intensely controversial. Interestingly, the power to grant and modify such payments in Scotland has been a devolved…

Scottish Winter Fuel Payment cuts upheld as lawful administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/16/s...

Which Article 2 legacy inquest authorities have survived Dalton? When does Article 2 ECHR apply to investigations into deaths occurring at the hands of the state? This deceptively simple question has vexed the House of Lords and Supreme Court on (more than) five…

Which Article 2 legacy inquest authorities have survived Dalton? administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/w...

High Court refuses permission in Liberty’s challenge against EHRC Code of Practice consultation The High Court (Swift J) has refused Liberty permission to apply for judicial review of the EHRC’s Code of Practice consultation, commenced on 20 May 2025, following the Supreme Court’s judgment in…

High Court refuses permission in Liberty’s challenge against EHRC Code of Practice consultation administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/09/h...

Appointment of Conservative Party leader not challengeable under Human Rights Act When the Conservative Party elected Liz Truss to be its leader in 2022, was it exercising a “public function” for the purposes of section 6 of the Human Rights Act, and was it therefore amenable to…

Appointment of Conservative Party leader not challengeable under Human Rights Act administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/05/23/a...

Clarifying the scope of the natural justice exception in the JRCA 2022’s Cart ouster The Court of Appeal (Underhill LJ, with whom Peter Jackson and Elisabeth Laing LJJ agreed) has handed down an important judgment delineating the proper scope of the “natural justice exception” in s…

Clarifying the scope of the natural justice exception in the JRCA 2022’s Cart ouster administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/05/20/c...

The deprivation of children’s liberty: the Human Rights Act exists for a reason Introduction It is a rare event where, in an appeal against a first instance judgment, all parties unequivocally say that the judgment was wrong. So it was in J v Bath and North East Somerset Counc…

The deprivation of children’s liberty: the Human Rights Act exists for a reason administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/05/07/t...

Good reason to depart from published policy: anxious scrutiny as a form of rationality review Six months ago, I sought to make the ambitious argument that, when the Court of Appeal rejected the requirement for good/very good reasons when the Justice Secretary rejects the Parole Board’s reco…

Good reason to depart from published policy: anxious scrutiny as a form of rationality review administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/05/06/g...

Seeking views on “sufficiently crystallised” proposals will not always engage Gunning requirements for fair consultation The Court of Appeal (Underhill LJ, with whom Dingemans and Edis LJJ agreed) has rejected the proposition that, where a public authority voluntarily seeks the views of an interested party at the for…

Seeking views on “sufficiently crystallised” proposals will not always engage Gunning requirements for fair consultation administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/05/03/s...