Judicial Review Procedure Act 2016
If a government agency or official has made a decision affecting you under a power granted to them by an Act, you may be able to apply to the High Court for a “judicial review” of the particular decision. A wide range of public-sector bodies and individual decision-makers can be challenged by judicial review, including state schools for example.
The judge usually won’t look at whether the decision-maker made the “right” decision, but will look instead at the way the decision was made – for example, whether you were given the chance to put your case, and whether the decision-maker considered all the relevant factors. The court’s role isn’t to substitute its own decision for that of the relevant agency or official, rather it’s to make sure the decision-maker acted within their legal powers – in particular, that they followed the process that the law requires.
The right to apply for judicial review through the High Court is a central part of the “rule of law”. A core role of the courts is to enforce legal rights and obligations, and judicial review specifically is a key way of making sure that government bodies and officials, like private citizens, act within the law and not arbitrarily.
Judicial review has been used to challenge a wide range of decisions and decision-makers. It’s been used by large businesses to challenge government decisions refusing them various kinds of commercial licences (fisheries or broadcasting licences for example), but also by parents to challenge disciplinary decisions by school boards of trustees about their child. However, as we explain below under “Disadvantages of judicial review”, judicial review is often not a practical means of getting the outcome you want, and going to the Ombudsman instead will often be faster and more effective (see above “The Ombudsman: Watchdogs over government”).
Note: This area of the law, also called “administrative law”, is complicated, and in this section, we give only a short summary of the main features. If you think going to the courts may be a viable option for you, you’ll need to talk to a lawyer early on.