I’m speaking on Managing Legal Risk tomorrow, at Community Care Live London … this is what’s been said about the session I will be running a session on how social work staff should be part of a council’s system for managing legal risk in their day to day work. This will be done through a mixture … Continue reading Belinda’s talk at Community Care Live – 27 September, 11.30
West Berkshire’s disabled children’s short breaks budget cut, is quashed… In a case that underlines the need for legal literacy on the part of MEMBERS as well as officers, in relation to fundamentally important decisions such as budget setting, the Administrative Court has quashed West Berkshire’s decisions to reduce the funding given to voluntary sector … Continue reading A great new case on the benefits of legal literacy: a successful judicial review of cuts to short breaks (for children)
From a case decided by the Court of Protection last week: AG (by her litigation friend the Official Solicitor) v BMBC Important best practice guidance to the sector has been endorsed by the Court of Protection – because covert medication can be a need, a right and done compliantly with the MCA because it constitutes … Continue reading A new case with important practice points for homes, care planners GPs and regulators regarding covert medication for incapacitated service users
Any law firm representing a local authority at SEN tribunal who might feel inclined to gloat over yet another recent win against parents in the field of SEN law might want to think twice. Not only because the SEN system should not be about ‘winning’ and ‘losing’ (see the storm of condemnation that Baker Small … Continue reading
SEN transport for 19 to 25 year olds: do councils have more responsibility than they think?
As those working in social care will know, care providers and councils are already overwhelmed and struggling to ensure lawful authorisation of all care situations involving Deprivations of Liberty following the broadening of the definition of ‘Deprivation of Liberty’ by the decision of the Supreme Court in Cheshire West. The current situation is so bad … Continue reading
Authorising Deprivations of Liberty: Can we safely ignore “private” situations?
Gloucestershire, 1997 – the case that says that a person is entitled to have their needs met – even if the council has run out of social services money – unless and until the person is lawfully reassessed as no longer being eligible for a service or funding – but also saying that the council … Continue reading My top 20 cases from the old social services framework and why they’re essential knowledge in the Care Act world
Community Care and Irwin Mitchell have reported that Luke Davey has obtained permission to bring judicial review proceedings against Oxfordshire in relation to a cut to a care package/personal budget. The social care world needs to understand what that means, in my view. In this country, one has to get permission first, from the High … Continue reading Commentary on what is currently known about Luke Davey’s application for judicial review
Questions about carers’ Assessment rights under the Care Act (support planning issues to be covered on another day) Are carers entitled to self-assess? Yes, but only in the same way as service users – it’s not self-assessment of eligibility, but supported self-analysis of one’s needs, followed by an assurance exercise. It is, however, likely to … Continue reading Carers’ assessment legal framework questions – under the Care Act – for Carers’ Week 2016
In last week’s Sunday Times’ Money section, there was a full page devoted to a story about a war veteran being turned out of a care home – even though he was by then a CHC patient, and was settled and well cared for in the home. The article was quite difficult to follow, but … Continue reading Pondering last week’s Sunday Times’ coverage of the Bryant family’s difficulties (resulting in the eviction of a war veteran from a care home, despite his being on CHC, by that time) over an alleged debt….
http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/mental_capacity_interim_statement.pdf Excerpts from the Law Commission’s Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty Interim Statement We have therefore concluded that the new scheme should focus solely on ensuring that those deprived of their liberty have appropriate and proportionate safeguards, and should not seek to go as widely as the protective care scheme. The responsibility for establishing … Continue reading The main points from the Interim Statement on the DoLS, now available
