"What Barnet's judicial review tells us about the future of outsourcing"

Link to The Guardian

"It's no surprise that the application for a judicial review placed by Barnet residents, challenging the council's decision to approve a major outsourcing contract, has generated headlines.

"... We are seeing a legal challenge by the electorate to an elected council's decision to undertake something, which it is argued, it had no specific mandate to do.

"... The court will have to be satisfied that Barnet council was under a duty to consult. Even if a decision-maker is not required by statute to consult, it may be an essential element of "fair process" to do so."