Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Judicial review and the Tameside duty: due inquiry, Wednesbury standard, how courts assess compliance, consultation interplay, and contextual intensity

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Practice notes

Overview of the Tameside duty

The Tameside duty takes its title from Secretary of State for Education and Science v Tameside MBC. As Lord Diplock made clear, a decision-maker must frame the right question and take reasonable steps to equip himself with the relevant information in order to answer it correctly before acting. It is most often characterised as a duty to undertake sufficient or due inquiry. For background reading, see: ‘Due Inquiry’: Supperstone, Goudie and Walker on Judicial Review [10.59]...

This obligation is a logical development of the broader, general and long‑standing public law principle that a decision-maker must weigh every relevant consideration, and disregard those that are irrelevant, most notably exemplified by Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation. In this regard, Lord Diplock’s statement of the test in Tameside is firmly anchored in the Wednesbury principle (R (Law Society) v Lord Chancellor). It remains distinct from the (mistaken) view that the duty arises from procedural fairness owed to the applicant (R (Plantaganet Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Justice)...

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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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