Audit Commission v Ealing LBC [2005] EWCA Civ 556

• The Audit Commission has the power under legislation to rate the performance of local authorities and categorised Ealing’s performance as “weak”.

• Ealing sought judicial review on the grounds that the Audit Commission had acted unlawfully by adopting a rule which automatically downgraded a local authority which had received a zero rating from another statutory body, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (“CSCI”), in respect of its social services performance.

• It had thereby refused to apply its own mind to the reasons why CSCI gave that star rating and whether those reasons warranted downgrading. 

Keene LJ

• The Audit Commission was aware of how the CSCI reached its conclusions and was content to adopt them in arriving at its own ratings.