Does a decision made by a local public body seem unfair? Is there an impact on your third sector organisation or others that could have been avoided? How can you find out if the public body made the right choices, acted after appropriate consultation and fulfilled it’s duties lawfully? A: Public law…

Empowering the Third Sector through Public Law

The majority of organisations in the Voluntary, Community or wider Third Sector interact with the Public Sector. The relationships may be direct, through service contracts with councils, care trusts, job centres or others, or through provision by the public sector of grant support. Or the connection may be more indirect. But there is no doubt that the decisions made by public bodies can have an impact on Third Sector Organisations.

When decisions are made (or not made) by public bodies there will be an impact. And if the feeling is that a decision “is unfair”, then perhaps it is. And if it is, what can you do about it?

The fact is that you and your organisation may be more empowered to deal with “unfair” public decisions than you think.

The powers exercised by all public bodies are governed by PUBLIC LAW. If you understand these public law principles then you will be able to determine whether an action or decision made by a public body is indeed fair or unfair, and if necessary understand how to go about challenging that decision, potentially reversing it and changing outcomes on yourself, your organisation and others.

Do you understand Public Law?

There are national initiatives to support understanding of Public Law and the Third Sector Hub has been making efforts to bring this support locally to North East Lincolnshire.

Most organisations are probably going to investigate a subject such as public law as and when a crisis arises. That doesn’t give a lot of time to learn your subject. So rather than be reactive we’re promoting groups and organisations to become proactive. Learn about public law, decide in advance where you’ll get your legal support and be that better bit prepared for if and when a public law issue arises.

You don’t need to be an expert. There are others out to help with that. But you do need to know where they are and where you can find useful information on the subject.

As a Third Sector Organisation, it would be an ideal approach to learn about Public Law principles now ready for the future.

Learn more…

So the Third Sector Hub is promoting to groups that an understanding (however basic) of public law should be part of your developmental thinking.

So we’ve run briefings and training courses before, and we’ll run them again as demand dictates.

What to do…

Before a crisis arises, find out more about public law from the information or training available. We’ve assembled some useful documents and web links below or you could let us know your interest and we may be able to arrange a training briefing.

When a crisis does arise then that general knowledge will mean you know the questions to ask, the information and evidence to assemble, the people and support organisations to speak to, the advice services to call upon and the options and choices (legal or otherwise) available to you.

Training

We have previously hosted or delivered both briefings and training on Public Law. If you or your organisation would like to learn more about Public Law then please do contact us and let us know.

We are able to organise locally in North East Lincolnshire (on demand and subject to sufficient numbers):

free 1.5 hour briefing on Public Law – our “Beginners Guide” session

full 1 day training workshop going in depth into understanding public law (usually £30 per head)

Contact Karl Elliott, Third Sector Hub Manager if you would like more information.

Some useful website links

Website for the local Compact
Our Hub discussion board “Keeping it Legal” about the law and public law – get involved in the discussions.
The Public Law Project website
Empowering the Voluntary Sector project from NAVCA

Documents to download

Public Law Project overview leaflet
Empowering the Voluntary Sector – summary of the project
Empowering the Voluntary Sector – flyer for 2009/10

Newsletters from the Empowering the Voluntary Sector project (full of useful case studies)
number 9
number 8
number 7
number 6
number 5
number 4
number 3
number 2
number 1

Understanding more about Public law…
“Challenging a Funding Cut” – NAVCA document
“Dealing with a Funding Crisis” – Sheffield CVS
How your council works – a handy guide
Competitive Tendering – NAVCA document
EU procurement guidance note – NAVCA document
European Procurement notes – PLP document
Judicial Review – NAVCA document
Liberty & Human Rights – NAVCA document

Note: most of these documents are in Abobe pdf format. You may need the reader to view them. Download it here.