Local authority powers to prosecute consumer offences (R v AUH and others)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Corporate Crime analysis: Richard Heller, barrister at 2 Hare Court, Chambers of Jonathan Laidlaw KC considers the conjoined appeals in R (on the application of City of York Council) v AUH and others and R (Birmingham City Council) v BIY and ARA (Sec of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy intervening) (‘the York Case’ and ‘the Birmingham Case’), in which the Court of Appeal held that paragraph 46(1), Schedule 5 to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015), provides a free-standing power to prosecute consumer offences arising outside a local authority’s geographical boundaries, without the need for reference to the expediency provision at section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972 (LGA 1972).