Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

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Dear S Downes

Freedom of information request - FOI/8747

Subject: Legal costs of R (on the application of Imam) (Respondent) v
London Borough of Croydon (Appellant)

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.

If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why, and details of how you
may appeal.

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully. 

Kind Regard

Information Management Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

7th Floor, Zone B

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

Hi Lou,

The below came in through the inbox, it's a complaint regarding an overdue FOI from Mr S Downes There have been some chasers however still waiting for a response.

Kind regards,
Zunerah Anjum

show quoted sections

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

Dear S Downes

Request FOI/8747

Further to your request received on 28/11/2023, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000. Specifically, you have requested the following information:

“Please provide a breakdown, by year, of the legal costs incurred by
Croydon Council for each year on external lawyers from January 2019 to
November 2023 on the housing case in which there was today a Supreme Court
decision for R (on the application of Imam) v London Borough of Croydon.”

Total cost by year in respect of the case of R (on the application of
Imam) (Respondent) v London Borough of Croydon (Appellant)
 

  £
2020 42,221.16
2021 17,643.60
2022 94,389.88
2023 150,783.67
Total 305,038.31

The external lawyers dealing with this case were Browne Jacobson, a legal
service provider engaged [1]under contract with the Council.  Browne
Jacobson, are instructed from time to time on a wide range of matters,
including, planning, social care and education, governance, prosecutions,
investigations and litigation matters.

Browne Jacobson were only instructed in Spring 2020 when proceedings were
issued in the High Court by Ms Imam, so there were no legal costs prior to
April 2020.

It should be noted that it was important for the case to be heard by the
Supreme Court as the previous High Court decision had placed additional
burdens on local authorities by making a mandatory order for the placement
of a homeless household. The Supreme Court hearing was essential to
re-clarify the issue of resources when dealing with homelessness
applications. The Supreme Court ruling restored the status quo with regard
to local authority resources.
 

The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:

[2]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)

If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act, you may ask for an internal review.
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response.
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:

Email:        [3][Croydon Borough Council request email]

Writing:     Information Team

London Borough of Croydon

Bernard Weatherill House

Floor 7 - Zone B

8 Mint Walk

Croydon, CR0 1EA

Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Information Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

Bernard Wetherill House,

Mint Walk,

Croydon,

CR0 1EA

[4][Croydon Borough Council request email]

[5][email address]

References

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