Local Government Finance in UK Law

The liability that the Council was seeking to enforce was an existing liability under the Council Tax Regulations to pay a sum on account of Mr Mohammed's (future) liability to pay council tax. The liability to pay council tax for the rest of the financial year after 25 th November 2005 was contingent upon Mr Mohammed continuing to occupy the premises each day until the end of that financial year (as the Regulations assumed he would).

The position in respect of the next financial year, from 1 st April 2006 to 31 st March 2007, was different. As at 25 th November 2005, Mr Mohammed had no accrued liability to pay the council tax itself, as that liability arose day by day under the Local Government Finance Act.

Fairness is a protean concept, not susceptible of much generalised enlargement. But its requirements in this context must be linked to the purposes of consultation. Such are two valuable practical consequences of fair consultation. But underlying it is also a third purpose, reflective of the democratic principle at the heart of our society. This third purpose is particularly relevant in a case like the present, in which the question was not

Sometimes, particularly when statute does not limit the subject of the requisite consultation to the preferred option, fairness will require that interested persons be consulted not only upon the preferred option but also upon arguable yet discarded alternative options.

In the present context, the local authority is discharging an important function in relation to local government finance, which affects its residents generally. The statutory obligation is, "before making a scheme", to consult any major precepting authority, to publish a draft scheme, and, critically, to "consult such other persons as it considers are likely to have an interest in the operation of the scheme".

We think that it is probably impossible to produce a definition of "main residence" that will provide the appropriate test in all circumstances. Usually, however, a person's main residence will be the dwelling that a reasonable onlooker, with knowledge of the material facts, would regard as that person's home at the material time. That test may not always be an easy one to apply, but we have no doubt as to the conclusion to which it leads in the present case.

I readily accept that throughout the process the Council was giving consideration to how to address the needs of the disabled. In that sense its decisions taken in relation to adult social care were decisions which were relevant to its performance of the s 49A duty.