Rizvan Mussa and Salima Mawji reflect on the latest High Court guidance on judicial review and complaints to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator

“Promptly and, in any event, within three months after the grounds to make the claim first arose” – a phrase etched into the minds of budding public law practitioners from the outset of their training and which is set out in part 54.5(1) of the Civil Procedure Rules. The relatively short time limit reflects the courts’ recognition of the importance of finality in respect of administrative decisions. Practitioners are equally familiar with the notion that judicial review is a remedy of last resort and that where alternative processes are available for resolving disputes, then those options ought to be exhausted in the first instance.