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Judgment was handed down this morning in the case of Edenred (UK Group) Ltd v (1) Her Majesty’s Treasury (2) Her Majesty’s Commissioners for Revenue and Customs and (3) National Savings and Investments.
The claimant, a provider of childcare vouchers, sought to challenge the Government’s proposed delivery of its flagship policy for Tax Free Childcare (“TFC”), introduced in the 2013 Budget.
Having undertaken extensive consultation, the Government had decided that TFC should be delivered by HMRC working in partnership with NS&I, with services delivered by NS&I’s delivery partner Atos IT UK Limited under a contract entered into in April 2014 following a competitive procurement.
Edenred (a member of the Computer Voucher Providers’ Association) challenged that decision on the basis that the arrangements between HMRC and NS&I constituted an untendered public contract and that the amendment to NS&I’s contract with Atos to provide services in support of TFC constituted a material variation of that contract.
Both allegations were comprehensively dismissed by Andrews J. A case-note will follow shortly.
Please click to view the full Edenred v HM Treasury judgment
Philip Moser QC, Ewan West and Anneliese Blackwood (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) acted for the Defendants