On 29 April the High Court ruled that a London council could proceed with its plan to outsource a number of its services to private companies – including Capita.

Lord Justice Underhill dismissed an application for judicial review brought by a disabled resident. The judge ruled that the application was out of time; however he did also rule on the substantive issues. One of the grounds claimed was that the council had failed to carry out an impact assessment under the Equality Act 2010.

Lord Underhill said: “The judgment as to whether the provisions of the contract adequately address the interests of groups with a protected characteristic is for the council, and not the court, to make; and its assessment could only be challenged if it fell outside the wide discretion which it enjoys.”

On another ground, that the council had failed to meet its fiduciary duty to its council tax payers, the judge said the evidence offered by the resident had “…not come close to establishing the kind of reckless disregard of the principles of financial planning or management that is necessary to make good a claim of this kind”.

The leader of the Conservative-controlled council, Cllr Richard Cornelius, said: “We can now get on with making budget savings of £12m a year in our back-office costs while investing in service improvements and protecting our frontline services. The alternative cuts to frontline services we would have had to make would have been horrendous.

“Lord Justice Underhill could not have been clearer in ruling the application for judicial review as out of time and in accepting that the council had met equalities criteria. I hope the applicant and her lawyers will carefully consider the wise words of the judge before embarking upon an appeal and incurring even more costs that will have to be met from public funds.”

He added that the judiciary review had already cost over £300,000.

Mr Cornelius continued: “In the absence of case law, he also makes detailed comments about how councils should consult on such projects under Best Value legislation and is at times critical on details of our own past consultation.  All local authorities will need to study this closely as will Barnet Council.”

The ruling, if upheld on appeal, will allow the council to embark on what is believed to be an unprecedented programme of outsourcing, including services such as building control, planning administration and land charges. The programme is under the banner One Barnet, but has been dubbed ‘easyCouncil’ by opponents because of its ‘no frills’ approach. One blogger sees residents as subjects in an experiment and has adopted the mascot Barnet the Guinea Pig (pictured, photo from freefoto.com).