The Family Procedure Rule Committee is consulting on proposed changes to the Family Procedure Rules and associated Practice Directions, to ensure that experts instructed in family law children proceedings have the “relevant qualifications and oversight” to provide an expert opinion.

The Divisional Court has rejected an appeal by the owner of a company that contracted with local authorities to provide transport services for children with special educational needs against his conviction on four charges of being the operator of a private hire vehicle (PHV) when a PHV licence was not in force, and two charges of being the operator of a PHV when the driver was not the holder of a…

A property firm has lost a costs application against the London Borough of Lambeth after Martin Rodger KC, Deputy Chamber President, said at the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) that, despite finding a combination of legal errors in the costs decision of the First-Tier Tribunal Property Chamber, it was inappropriate for him either to remit the case or remake the decision himself.

A parish clerk has been awarded £20,000 in damages after defamatory social media posts by a parish councillor, who was “consumed with a very strong personal dislike” of the clerk, were found to have caused serious harm to their reputation.

The Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed an appeal concerning whether Tower Hamlets Council was entitled to make a rule that only councillors who had been present when a planning application had previously been considered could vote on the deferred application.

A selective licensing scheme due to be implemented in Scunthorpe has been delayed following a legal challenge from local landlords seeking a judicial review of the decision.

The President of the Family Division and the Chief Coroner have this week (24 March) published guidance on good practice for Family Court Judges and Coroners where there are parallel proceedings in their jurisdictions.

GMB Union has launched legal proceedings on behalf of around 400 women working as school support staff at Barnet Council, in what the union says is the first local authority equal pay claim launched in London.

The Supreme Court will next week hand down its much anticipated ruling in a dispute about whether Tower Hamlets Council was entitled to make a rule that only councillors who had been present when a planning application had previously been considered could vote on deferred applications.

The Upper Tribunal has in part allowed a council’s appeal against a decision by the Education Tribunal for Wales in relation to the naming of a school in a child’s Individual Development Plan, in the first case to have been brought under the new 2018 Act regime for Additional Learning Provision in Wales.

The High Court has allowed an appeal brought by a single mother in relation to her son’s package of home-to-school transport, finding that a city council’s decision to withdraw the support was “irrational”.

The claimant pursuing a legal challenge against Newport City Council over a lost hard drive containing access to a Bitcoin wallet worth more than £500m has said he will take his claim to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) following the Court of Appeal's decision to refuse permission for an appeal.

Cheltenham Borough Council has taken the usual step of appealing a case in which it was successful because of concern that the Planning Court’s ruling would have meant the potential impact of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) on medical implants would always be a material planning consideration.

A predecessor council to North Yorkshire Council should have credited car parking and rental income from land adjacent to Whitby Harbour to the harbour’s account rather then its general one, the High Court has ruled after studying laws dating back to 1827.

Ethnic minority users of the county court service are disproportionately disadvantaged by the system’s delays, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has said.

The Court of Appeal this week will hear an appeal by Surrey County Council over a High Court judge’s decision to allow a judicial review claim against the local authority’s refusal to comply with duties said to be owed to the claimant under the Children Act 1989 when he was 17 years old.

Caitlin Smithey rounds up the latest public law children cases of interest to practitioners.

The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application brought on behalf of a young woman with severe disabilities in relation to the local council’s provision of same-sex personal and intimate care for women service users.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against a placement order made in respect of an 18-month-old boy, finding that the aspiration to place him with extended family in Pakistan was “not achievable” within the timescales, and that the child’s best interests could only be served by the making of a placement order with a view to him being adopted in the UK.

A judge sitting in the Court of Protection has highlighted the “crucial significance” of issuing proceedings promptly, after finding a failure by a hospital to address a man’s best interests in a timely way, which “compromised his dignity”.

Herefordshire Council acted lawfully when it used planning policy to try to control agricultural waste, the High Court has found.

The family of a Kent carpenter who died from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos, have agreed a six-figure settlement in a claim against Medway Council, after arguing the local authority owed him a duty of care as the occupier of the site he was working on. The self-employed carpenter was sub-contracted via CJ Howards & Sons to work for Medway Council between 1970 to 1973. During this…

An application for judicial review and an interim injunction against Coventry City Council's plans to chop down 26 trees to build a cycleway has been refused by the High Court.

Liverpool City Council's former Mayor, Joe Anderson, has been charged with one count of bribery, one count of misconduct in a public office and one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, Merseyside Police have confirmed.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal brought on behalf of a 15-year-old boy, rejecting the submission that the decision to permanently exclude him from school was unlawful because the headteacher “failed to comply with the public sector equality duty (PSED)”.

A dispute about the use of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to ban unauthorised mooring on part of the River Thames has seen a claimant win on one ground of irrationality but lose on 14 others.

An applicant has lost an attempt to require the London Borough of Lewisham to rehouse him and his family because of anti-social behaviour by neighbours.

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a woman cannot take the London Borough of Waltham Forest to judicial review in a dispute over whether the council discharged its main housing duty towards her.

The High Court will this week hear a claim against Coventry City Council over the local authority's plans to fell 26 road-side trees in order to install a new cycleway.