Jack Castle successful in Council Tax Reduction Judicial Review

Jack Castle acted for the successful claimants in R (LL and AU) v Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council [2025] EWHC 2380 (Admin), an important judicial review quashing a council tax reduction scheme as unlawfully adopted, irrational, and discriminatory against disabled people and carers receiving certain welfare benefits. Those benefits were “double counted” as income by Trafford’s council tax reduction scheme, leading LL, AU and others like them to receive much larger council tax bills than before.

The decision emphasises that changes to council tax reduction schemes must be approved by the full council, and highlights the need for public authorities that adopt automated decision-making to ensure they can understand and explain how its decisions are reached. It also appears to be the first decision of a court of record allowing a claim for indirect associative discrimination under s.19A Equality Act 2010, in that AU suffered the same “double counting” of her benefit as a disabled person despite not being disabled herself.

Jack delivered the claimants’ oral submissions on the successful Public Sector Equality Duty and discrimination grounds. He was led by Tom Royston of Garden Court North Chambers and instructed by Leigh Day.

To subscribe to Henderson Chambers news, alerters and updates please click here.