Challenge to trading standards cuts dismissed but council to review structuring

The High Court has this week dismissed a legal challenge to Liverpool City Council’s decision to cut its trading standards service, but the local authority has undertaken to review the service’s structuring.

Stephanie Hudson, a council employee and member of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), applied for a judicial review after Liverpool decided to cut the team’s headcount from 19 to four.

A permission hearing was held at the High Court in Manchester in September 2014. A consent order agreed by the parties has now the claimant’s renewed application dismissed.

However, the city council gave an undertaking that it would – within three months of the order – review its decision on the service’s restructuring.

This review will involve considering whether its structure meets its obligations under:

• The council’s statutory and European Union consumer protection duties;
• The Government’s list of enforcement priorities pursuant to section 11 of the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 and contained within the Local Better Regulation Office Final Report dated November 2011 entitled ‘Priority Regulatory Outcomes’.

The council agreed also to publish its review on its website within seven days of completion.

The claimant meanwhile accepted that the agreement did not amount to any admission that Liverpool’s decision had been taken unlawfully.

A Liverpool City Council spokesman said: “The court has dismissed an appeal against a refusal to allow the judicial review of a decision taken in 2014 to re-structure the way in which the city council delivers its trading standards function.

“The council believes that the new structure will enable us to deliver local and national consumer protection priorities and that the restructure was conducted properly – the court decision confirms this view.
 
“However, as a matter of good practice we have agreed to review the effectiveness of the new structure and we will be publishing the results of that review in our performance plan within three months.”

The CTSI supported the case, with chief executive Leon Livermore providing an expert witness statement to aid the court.

He said: "The decision by Liverpool Council to review how its trading standards service is structured and then publish it on the council website is great news. Not only does this have implications for Liverpool City Council, it will also provide clarity for other local authorities reviewing their trading standards services.

"This process has resulted in positive, clear guidance that will benefit all local authorities – and their communities - as the next round of budget cuts start kicking in. We are full of sympathy for Liverpool Council, and the many other local authorities who are in the same boat of having to make desperately difficult choices.”

Livermore added: "It is the role of the institute to advise local government on these issues and we are pleased to have a constructive role in this process.

"The deep cuts to trading standards services over the last five years, has left their ability to protect citizens and honest business dangerously compromised in many parts of the country."