ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the judicial review and homelessness decision-making in local government. It explores some difficulties surrounding the concept of ‘impact’ and argues that a methodological approach which stresses the social construction of administrative reality. The chapter provides an approach which pays close attention to how the meanings of the phenomena that comprise the subject of administration are achieved within the administrative process. It argues that a rich theoretical and empirical understanding of decision-making presents with a number of important obstacles to overcome before can begin to speak of the ‘impact’ of judicial review. The impact of judicial review on administrative decision-making is well established as a contemporary concern of socio-legal scholars of public law in Britain and reflected by a growing literature. The quality of decision-making seemed to improve around the same time as an increase in the amount of judicial review litigation in one authority.
