'Hemmings' Case - Supreme Court Judgment awaited

On Tuesday (13th January 2015) the Supreme Court heard Westminster City Council's appeal in the matter of R (on the application of Hemming (t/a Simply Pleasure Ltd) and others) v Westminster City Council.

Lord Neuberger and his colleagues Lord Mance, Clarke, Reed and Toulson considered representations from all parties on the issues surrounding the calculation of fees for sex establishments in Westminster and the impact of the Provision of Services Regulations 2009.

Although not immediately a thrilling subject you may think, Westminster currently face the prospect of paying in excess of £2million pounds to Mr Hemmings and his colleagues flowing from allegedly unlawfully set fees.

Although clearly a complex case, the main thrust of the Claimant's case against Westminster was that following the introduction of the above regulations Westminster were no longer entitled to include within their set fees the cost of enforcing the licensing system. In this instance over 90% of the levied fee was directed towards enforcement costs.

Although initially about sex establishment fees the issue may have such wide impact that a number of third parties have ‘intervened' in the case including:

• The Architects Registration Board 
• The Solicitors Regulation Authority
• The Bar Standards Board
• The Care Quality Commission
• The Farriers Registration Co
• The Law Society
• The Bar Council
• The Local Government Association and 
• Her Majesty's Treasury

If the lower Court's decisions are upheld this may cause substantial black holes to appear in many regulator's budgets.

The decision is not imminent and if the Court refers the matter to Europe, a final determination may not materialise until late 2016; we shall keep you updated.

For more background information, please see our article 'Supreme Court to take another look at Hemmings'.