Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Judicial review in England and Wales: claimant’s procedural guide from pre-action to permission

Published by a LexisNexis Public Law expert

Practice notes

This practical overview sets out, at a high level, the procedural actions a claimant ought to take when bringing a judicial review claim. It addresses the process up to the court’s decision on whether to give permission to pursue judicial review. Only the stage up to the court’s determination on whether to grant permission to apply for judicial review is covered.

For the potential grounds and available remedies, see the Practice Notes on this topic: Grounds of judicial review—illegality, Grounds of judicial review—unreasonableness, Grounds of judicial review—procedural impropriety, Grounds of judicial review—breach of legitimate expectation and Remedies in judicial review. Those notes address the bases relied upon and the remedies available therein.

Send a letter before claim and comply with the pre-action protocol

Where a person considers that a body exercising a public function has taken a potentially unlawful decision, one should, if the relevant judicial review time limit permits (discussed further below), prepare a letter to that body setting out the legal grounds of challenge and the outcome sought. The Pre-action Protocol for Judicial Review sets out the required steps, format and content for such correspondence. The Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide identifies two reasons why this is important...

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Gabriel Tan

Gabriel is a specialist public lawyer, with practice and academic expertise in the field. He read law at Durham University and the University of Oxford. Gabriel previously practised at Wilson Solicitors, specialising in judicial reviews and civil claims against public authorities. He has experience in public law matters across a wide-range of issues, including policy challenges, and the consultation duties of public authorities, amongst others. Gabriel has had conduct of litigation before the County Court, Upper Tribunal, the Administrative Court, and the Court of Appeal. He has been instructed by individuals, as well as NGOs, both in litigation and general research matters. Gabriel writes regularly and has been published across a wide range of publications on various aspects of public law, including academic journals (e.g. Public Law, Edinburgh Law Review), academic blogs (e.g. UK Constitutional Law Association Blog), and...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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