R (Faarah) v Southwark London Borough Council

On 10th July 2008 the Court of Appeal gave judgment in the case of R (Faarah) v Southwark LBC [2008] EWCA Civ 807. The case concerned Southwark’s allocation scheme. Sedley LJ concluded : “..All the members of this court would wish to express their appreciation of the skilful professional service which Ms Faarah has had from the Southwark Law Centre. As the history set out by Lord Justice Toulson shows, the Law Centre, by careful and well-informed correspondence, was able to locate and challenge the precise error of public administration which this appeal has confirmed. It is of importance to the administration of justice, as well as to many individuals, that there should continue to be Law Centres like Southwark’s which are able to offer professional help of high calibre to the neediest people.”

Sedley LJ concluded :

“..All the members of this court would wish to express their appreciation of the skilful professional service which Ms Faarah has had from the Southwark Law Centre. As the history set out by Lord Justice Toulson shows, the Law Centre, by careful and well-informed correspondence, was able to locate and challenge the precise error of public administration which this appeal has confirmed. It is of importance to the administration of justice, as well as to many individuals, that there should continue to be Law Centres like Southwark’s which are able to offer professional help of high calibre to the neediest people.”

These comments come at a time when the provision of good quality legal advice to those who cannot afford to pay for it ( like Ms Faarah ) continues to be under threat. The Legal Services Commission focus on “outputs” rather than outcomes favours those providing high volume rather than high quality services.

In Ms Faarah’s case, the Administrative Court had given judgment in March but the local authority had failed to act to adjust her priority. She was only rehoused after the Law Centre issued a second application for judicial review when (very unusually) thirty four bedroom properties became available for allocation and it was apparent that Ms Faarah should have been offered one of them, but would not be.

Ms Faarah’s case illustrates the importance of the provision of high quality legal advice: there is a key difference between the approach of a qualified and experienced housing lawyer faced with a client who wishes to be rehoused, and the adviser lacking appropriate expertise. The one is able to identify and pursue a legal challenge, the other may only be able to write a letter saying “please rehouse this client because her housing circumstances are poor.”

Law Centres are uniquely placed to gather and use information and expertise about local authority policies and procedures.
The trend towards low cost high volume advice which may not be provided locally ( for example , by the use of telephone advice lines where the adviser may be at the other end of the country) may mean that in the future the actions of local authorities are more likely to go unchecked.

Rebekah Carrier, Solicitor
Southwark Law Centre 11th August 2008

Published: Mon 11 Aug, 2008