The inevitable consequence of the recent spending review is that
funding decisions made by public bodies will be subject to immense
scrutiny over the coming months. Decision makers should therefore
take care to ensure that such decisions are made in accordance with
public law principles. If not, any affected party could seek to
challenge that decision by way of judicial review in the courts on
the basis that the decision was illegal, irrational, unreasonable
and/or unfair. Court proceedings must be commenced within 3 months
of the date of the decision, if not sooner, although the parties
are expected to set out the grounds of challenge and response in
writing before contemplating court. If the court upholds the
challenge, it can order that the original decision be quashed,
retaken and/or declare that the public body has acted unlawfully
etc. The cost and time engaged in defending challenges can be
significant.
