The leave of the court must be obtained before a claim for
judicial review can be made (except in Scotland). In England and
Wales, before any application for permission to begin proceedings
is made, the person who is thinking of taking action against a
public body should normally send a ‘pre-action letter’
to that body.
The purpose of the pre-action letter is to identify the
issues in dispute and to establish whether litigation can be
avoided.
The public body must reply to the pre-action letter (usually
within 14 days). Therefore
anyone who receives a pre-action letter must contact Tax
Administration Advice(Appeals) straightaway, and, if Solicitor’s
Office is already involved, the relevant lawyer.
Most pre-action letters complain about something HMRC has
done or failed to do, so the letter should also be reported to the
complaints team for the relevant business unit.
The case owner and the complaints team may consider whether
the disputed decision should be modified in any way. But they
should not reply to the letter or alter the decision before
obtaining advice from TAA (Appeals).
