Supreme Court rules on 'unlawful' council consultation

Local authorities across England will now have to take greater steps to ensure they properly involve local people in their decision-making processes.

This comes after the Supreme Court ruled that a London council's consultation on a proposed council tax scheme misleadingly implied that it had no alternative but to pass on cuts to the poorest residents.

Last year, the government abolished the council tax benefit system in favour of a local rebate scheme, implemented by each council separately but with reduced funding. This left a shortfall, which Haringey council decided to meet by requiring all residents who had previously paid nothing - except disabled people and pensioners - to pay approximately 20 per cent of their council tax.

Irwin Mitchell represented Michelle Moseley, a single mother of four, who challenged the consultation by the council as it sought to implement the rebate system.

Moseley argued that the consultation was unlawful as it did not provide enough information for people to make an informed response to the proposed changes. The Supreme Court declared the consultation was unfair and was ultimately unlawful as the council made it seem that there was no choice in the matter.

The court unanimously agreed the council did not inform local people what all the options were, misleadingly implied that there were no possible alternatives, and gave no information about why it decided to implement the system.

R (on the application of Moseley (in substitution of Stirling Deceased)) (Appellant) v London Borough of Haringey (Respondent) [2014] UKSC 56 is the first time the Supreme Court has ruled on issues relating to consultations and is expected to impact on all future public consultations.

Alex Rook, a solicitor in the public law department at Irwin Mitchell, said: "This judgment will make a real difference in future to the way in which ordinary people in England and Wales are involved in decisions which affect their lives. Last year we warned that the council tax changes were going to hurt vulnerable residents who simply could not afford to pay under the new rules.

"[This] ruling will send a very clear message to all local authorities that they need to ensure that their consultations present the options in an accurate way and truly involve local people in the decision-making process."

Rook added that following the judgment local authorities and public bodies will be wary of hiding the true reasons behind decisions. "The case is a good example of where judicial review and legal aid have been used positively to hold local councils to account. The decision sends a very clear message about the importance of the democratic principles at the heart of our society."

In the first three months of 2014, Citizens Advice helped 27,000 people who had fallen behind with council tax bills, a 17 per cent increase on the same period of 2013. The charity also revealed that more than 90,000 people came to it looking for help with council tax arrears last year.

John van der Luit-Drummond is legal reporter for Solicitors Journal