Legal

• London council to take legal action over fortnightly newsletter

  Waltham Forest council has confirmed it will launch a legal battle over a government instruction to stop publishing its fortnightly newsletter.

  

• Councils take over 1,000 people to court for ‘social care debt’

  Local authorities have taken more than 1,000 people to court for social care debt over the past two years, according to GMB.

  

• Fitzgerald resigns from Liverpool ahead of crunch meeting

  Liverpool City Council’s chief executive, Ged Fitzgerald, is understood to have resigned days before an independent panel was due to consider his future.

  

• London council secures £1.6m fine against Tesco over safety failings

  Tesco has been fined £1.6m for health and safety failures following a successful prosecution by Ealing Council.

  

• Council to take pay dispute to Supreme Court

  Nottingham City Council is to take a dispute with its staff over incremental pay rises to the Supreme Court.

  

• Council's pay freeze is ruled unlawful by Court of Appeal

  Nottingham City Council was wrong to impose a freeze on incremental pay rises, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

  

• Scrutinising care provision

  The Court of Appeal has ruled that personal injury awards cannot be considered in the provision of after-care services. Morris Hill and Ken Slade explore what impact this judgement will have on local authorities.

  

• North Yorkshire launches council-owned law firm

  North Yorkshire County Council has become the first local authority in the North to trade its legal services.

  

• Court grants council powers to tackle ‘unauthorised’ traveller encampments

  The High Court has granted a council powers to help it crack down on ‘unauthorised’ traveller encampments.

  

• Court rules councils cannot use selective licensing to impose safety standards

  The Court of Appeal has today ruled councils cannot use selective licensing conditions to impose new standards on private rented homes.