Fettering of discretion
This case pre-dates the Children Act 1989, but is a useful example of the illegality of local authorities adopting blanket policies which amount to undue constraint on the exercise of discretion. A resolution adopted by the Council’s social services committee not to provide accommodation for families with young children who were deemed by the housing authority to be intentionally homeless, was held invalid because it laid down a policy without exceptions, which so fettered the authority’s discretion as to prevent proper consideration of the particular circumstances of a child or its family