180 degree turn: Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

The Court of Appeal has unanimously found for the taxpayer in its recent decision in Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust [2024] EWCA Civ 177.

As a result the court has changed utterly the position taken by both the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) and Upper Tribunal (UT) in the case to the delight not just of the appellant (the trust) but also more than 50 other appellants in cases stayed behind this one. Taken together they are hoping for a VAT windfall of some £70m which they have paid over to HMRC in respect of car parking charges.

This case does not therefore signify nothing but nevertheless it has a surprisingly narrow focus.

As Lady Justice Falk (with whom both the other judges agreed) makes clear in her lucid and very persuasive judgment at [5] the court is:

‘…concerned only...