Impact: Fighting for access to justice

Judicial review

Judicial review is a legal process providing redress, reviewing the lawfulness of decisions made by public bodies and making those public bodies legally accountable.

It has played a pivotal role in protecting the rights of vulnerable people and communities.

But its tangible benefits have not been fully understood, until now.

Government reform

In 2014 the coalition Government sought to reform judicial review claiming that:

• growth in judicial review was driven by claimants abusing the system.
• the effect on public administration was largely negative.
• judicial review rarely alters the decisions of public bodies.
• Our project has shown these claims to be false.

The need for judicial review

Using court records and questionnaires completed by solicitors for claimants and defendants, our researchers built the first, comprehensive data set on the use, impact and operation of judicial review.

They showed that:

• Government had grossly exaggerated the scale of judicial review litigation.
• Judicial review was not being abused by politically-motivated groups: 77% of claimants were individuals seeking resolution for disputes specific to them and just 3% were brought by interest groups.
• Contrary to Government claims, judicial review has achieved tangible benefits: 80% of successful cases and 40% of unsuccessful challenges resulted in tangible benefits such as the retention of a public service.

Protecting vulnerable people

Crucially, for the first time the project showed a direct link between claimants receiving legal aid and the tangible benefits of judicial review. Denying those people most dependent on public services access to legal aid, denied them access to justice.

Government hasn't listened yet, but who did?

The battle for protecting access to justice has been led by parliamentary committees, civil society groups, lawyers and courts. They have all cited the work of our study and continue the fight, despite the passing, in 2015 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act .

The project was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the report published by the Public Law Project.