Civil Procedure Rules
Procedural code for civil courts in England and Wales, including judicial review time limits.
Under the Civil Procedure Rules, councils wanting to challenge England's reorganisation decisions dated 16 July must file by around 16 October 2026, even though ministers have paused those decisions for review.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Civil Procedure Rules
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UK Local Elections 2026Background
The Civil Procedure Rules are the procedural code for civil cases in the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the County Court in England and Wales. They came into force in April 1999, replacing the Rules of the Supreme Court and the County Court Rules, and are made as a statutory instrument.
Part 54 governs judicial review, the route for challenging the lawfulness of decisions by ministers and other public bodies. Rule 54.5 sets the time limit and says the parties cannot extend it between themselves.
Because the clock runs from the date of a decision rather than from any later order, the rules decide when a council must act, whatever ministers say about pausing or reviewing a decision.
The three-month clock keeps running
Rule 54.5 requires a judicial review claim to be filed promptly and in any event within three months of the grounds arising, and the parties cannot stretch that by agreement. For the reorganisation decisions dated 16 July 2026, the count ends around 16 October.
A ministerial pause does not reset it, because the decisions stay in force until withdrawn. That left Lancashire County Council weighing a protective claim, lodged to keep its right to challenge alive and then put on hold while ministers finish their review. The four March decisions withdrawn on 7 September need no claim at all.