Quiet Moves Toward Proportionate Dispute Resolution: The Law Commission's Consultation Paper on Administrative Redress

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the support of the Economic and Social Research Council for their project award ‘Public Services Ombudsmen and Administrative Justice: Models, Roles Methods and Relationships’ (RES‐000‐22‐2133), from which this article is derived. The project is being jointly undertaken by the author in partnership with Brian Thompson and Professor Trevor Buck.

Notes

1. For instance, in the Netherlands a piece of work has been carried out that tentatively suggests that the reports of the ombudsmen are more likely to lead to long‐term improvements in administration than the judgments from the courts (Hertogh 2001).

2. The court does possess a limited amount of discretion in applying this rule.

3. The Law Commission cites a provision under section 63C of the Family Law Act 1996 by way of example.

4. These examples were taken from real cases.

5. As the consultation paper notes, although this example is based on R v Norfolk County Council Social Services Department ex parte M [1989] QB 619, on the facts of the case the individual did not suffer loss as they had been suspended on full pay.