If you are a victim of a public law problem with a public body and act quickly you could try to get the decision changed by going to the High Court using judicial review. You can argue the decision is illegal, irrational or improper.
For example, the government might have overstepped its authority, or delegated or tied its hands without permission, or had a hidden agenda, or ignored a relevant factor or considered an irrelevant factor, or got the facts or law wrong, or acted outrageously, or broken its own rules, or been biased, or denied you a fair hearing.
You could slow down, challenge, change or block a decision, although compensation is rare.
Because there is a one month deadline for judicially reviewing decisions we may have to apply to court immediately while we wait for negotiations and any ombudsmen to help.
Case Study
Sharon’s tried to get her son James into Best High. But he could only get into Mediocre High as the only place left went to another boy, Andrew Speniache. She thought that is funny because her rejection letter was from a Mr Speniache. When she asked around she confirmed her worst fears, the admissions manager had put his son in over her head. She can win a judicial review because the decision was biased and took into an irrelevant consideration that Andrew was the manager’s son, and ignored a relevant consideration that James lived in the catchment area.
