The irrelevance of a council’s financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW

Accepting that it’s been demonstrated to be lawful for an LA to take account of its resources in making an offer of care – what if for example the ‘maximum offer’ for an individual is lower than the cost of support the LA is providing to

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Care Planning, Cuts and Personal Budgets Q&As, Discretionary charging for meeting a person's needs under the Care Act, Duties and Discretions, Professional judgment versus discretion in the context of duties and powers under the Care Act, Q&As on Care planning, Cuts, and Personal Budgets, The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW /

The care that is funded is arrived at by a mixture of professional judgment about the needs, and what will work to meet the needs to an acceptable standard in a civilised society and what that will COST in a realistic market.  No ONE person’s needs will be the same as another’s – even if […]

Accepting that it’s been demonstrated to be lawful for an LA to take account of its resources in making an offer of care – what if for example the ‘maximum offer’ for an individual is lower than the cost of support the LA is providing to Read More »

I care for a disabled adult and I’ve heard social workers claim it would be more cost effective to put him in residential care. I understand the council can’t force this but are they able to stop paying or limit/reduce his care funding to indirectly leave him with no choice?

Leave a Comment / Appropriateness, Sufficiency and Transparency of a care plan, Article 14 freedom from discrimination in the context of one's human rights, Article 5 the right to liberty, Article 8 the right to respect for home, family, private life and correspondence, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Care Planning, Cuts and Personal Budgets Q&As, Charging and financial assessment, Choice of Accommodation post Care Act, Commissioner's circumstances - reductions due to financial resources difficulties & variations RE the manner of meeting needs, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Due process requirements associated with Direct Payments and Health Budgets, Due process rights in care planning, Duties and Discretions, Fairness and due process in the context of care planning, Fees Issues with the Public Sector, General rules about changing the content or value of a care or a support plan based on the Care Act case law, Human Rights relevant to Care Planning, Issues of importance to social care service providers, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, Q&As on Care planning, Cuts, and Personal Budgets, Reviews and Revisions (cuts or changes to content), The conditions on which choice of accommodation depends, The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW, The significance of an arbitarily/indefensibly low rate to meet a person's need for Choice of Accommodation challenges, Top ups and Additional Payments /

First of all, they CAN do this – cost effectiveness is a lawful consideration to inform the council’s decision as to what to offer. But they have to go through hoops in the Care Act, like finding somewhere that’s actually suitable, with a vacancy that DOES cost less for a proper package of care, with

I care for a disabled adult and I’ve heard social workers claim it would be more cost effective to put him in residential care. I understand the council can’t force this but are they able to stop paying or limit/reduce his care funding to indirectly leave him with no choice? Read More »

Can a local authority rule out a particular care home, for respite or long term care, on the basis that it does not have a commissioning relationship with it?

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Care Planning, Cuts and Personal Budgets Q&As, Choice of Accommodation post Care Act, Duties and Discretions, Q&As on Care planning, Cuts, and Personal Budgets, The conditions on which choice of accommodation depends, The difference between a top up for one's preferred accommodation and additional payments for other kinds of care, The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW, The range of services, items, facilities and responses able to be provided under the Care Act, The types of accommodation arrangements to which Choice Rights apply, What does the concept of a Right to Choose Accommodation mean? /

No. Existing commissioning relationships are not determinative for choice of accommodation rights, subject to the ordinary rules of top ups.Commissioning policy, and a care home’s being in a contractual relationship with a local authority, is specifically not relevant to the choice of accommodation and top ups and as such, cannot be relevant for respite arrangements

Can a local authority rule out a particular care home, for respite or long term care, on the basis that it does not have a commissioning relationship with it? Read More »

Gulrez, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Redbridge [2022] EWHC 2908 (Admin) (18 November 2022)

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Duties and Discretions, Legality, unlawfulness and error of law in the context of care planning, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, The duty to act under the Care and Support Guidance (and other such Codes or Frameworks), The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW, The range of services, items, facilities and responses able to be provided under the Care Act, Universal duties to meet eligible unmet needs adequately and appropriately /

This case concerned the application of a local authority’s policy to determine whether the funding of a back-up stairlift for the disabled applicant, Mr Gulrez, was reasonable and practicable. The 33-year-old severely disabled claimant was a full-time wheelchair user who sought to challenge the authority’s refusal of an application for a Disabled Facilities Grant (“a

Gulrez, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Redbridge [2022] EWHC 2908 (Admin) (18 November 2022) Read More »

Is it the law that a direct payment should be put up annually in line with inflation?

Leave a Comment / Appropriateness, Sufficiency and Transparency of a care plan, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Direct Payments and Personal Health Budgets, Direct Payments Q&As, Due process requirements associated with Direct Payments and Health Budgets, Due process rights in care planning, Duties and Discretions, Indicative Budgets for Care Planning, Legality, unlawfulness and error of law in the context of care planning, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, Public law principles relevant to non-commissioned services, Q&As on Direct Payments, The council's review of a Direct Payment Plan and Use of the Money, The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW, Universal duties to meet eligible unmet needs adequately and appropriately /

Inflation (depending on the index used) could well be a lawfully relevant consideration on the part of commissioners as to what the council’s providers will need to be paid to keep enough of them on the council’s books to meet the anticipated throughput of need which the council’s data suggests will need to be organised

Is it the law that a direct payment should be put up annually in line with inflation? Read More »

Human rights underpin all social work and social care law – regardless of the Care Act, please note, or any suspension thereof – Goldsmith v Wandsworth LBC – [2004], Court of Appeal

Article 8 the right to respect for home, family, private life and correspondence, Article 8 the right to respect for home, family, private life and correspondence, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Duties and Discretions, Fairness and due process in the context of care planning, Human Rights in health and Social Care, Human Rights relevant to Care Planning, Judicial Review, Legality, unlawfulness and error of law in the context of care planning, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, Rationality and relevant considerations, in the context of care planning, Remedies, rights, complaints, regulatory and criminal law aspects to adult social care, enforcement of one’s rights, The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW /

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2004/1170.html Lest anyone think that there is no duty to give reasons for a care planning decision in the current crisis, they will be assisted by reminding themselves of the Goldsmith decision from 2004 – from even before the Care Act came in, and when care plans were not even statutory, please note. Under the

Human rights underpin all social work and social care law – regardless of the Care Act, please note, or any suspension thereof – Goldsmith v Wandsworth LBC – [2004], Court of Appeal Read More »

Antoniak v Westminster City Council

Assessment and Eligibility, Assessment under the Care Act, Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Due process in eligibility decision-making under the Care Act, Due process requirements for Lawful Assessment, Duties and Discretions, Eligibility under various legislative frameworks for care and support, Fairness and due process in the context of care planning, Judicial Review, Legal rules as to what must be considered on Assessment, Legality, unlawfulness and error of law in the context of care planning, Public law principles relevant to Care Planning, Remedies, rights, complaints, regulatory and criminal law aspects to adult social care, enforcement of one’s rights, The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW /

Well, goodness me, what a Happy New Year! A council finally got successfully judicially reviewed for failing to follow the Act and statutory guidance with regard to ignoring human assistance in meeting identified needs (it also managed to fail to follow the logic of its own forms, incidentally!). In Antoniak v Westminster City Council, the

Antoniak v Westminster City Council Read More »

R X (A Child) (No. 4)  (2017)

Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Children Act 1989 services, Duties and Discretions, How Children's Services fit in with the Care Act (and transitioning from Children's Services, Public sector child protection functions, Safeguarding of children by local authorities, The duty to act under the Care and Support Guidance (and other such Codes or Frameworks), The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW, The range of services, items, facilities and responses able to be provided under the Care Act, Universal duties to meet eligible unmet needs adequately and appropriately /

Keywords: Mental Health, NHS resources In this case, Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, expressed his concern about the lack of appropriate mental health beds for children and young people in England and Wales. The case concerned a 17-year-old girl in desperate and urgent need of a suitable placement to prevent a serious

R X (A Child) (No. 4)  (2017) Read More »

Duties and Discretions in legislation

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Different kinds of duties known to welfare law, Duties and Discretions, Judicial Review, Local Authorities’ Monitoring Officer, Powers and circumstances in which there may only be one sole justifiable response, Relevance of other agencies' duties for meeting need under s18 or s19 of the Care Act, Remedies, rights, complaints, regulatory and criminal law aspects to adult social care, enforcement of one’s rights, The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW, The power to meet ineligible needs, or eligible needs for people who are not ordinarily resident in the area, Universal duties to meet eligible unmet needs adequately and appropriately /

Statutory provisions in this field break down into the following types of function: Statutory powers/pure discretions. Such provisions give rise to a duty at least to consider exercising the discretion in a particular case, taking account of all relevant considerations etc. and otherwise acting rationally, within the wording of the power; and fairly, given the particular circumstances. The

Duties and Discretions in legislation Read More »

Directions and Guidance – legal significance

Leave a Comment / Care Planning, Budgets and Choice Rights, Different kinds of duties known to welfare law, Duties and Discretions, Judicial Review, Local Authorities’ Monitoring Officer, Powers and circumstances in which there may only be one sole justifiable response, Relevance of other agencies' duties for meeting need under s18 or s19 of the Care Act, Remedies, rights, complaints, regulatory and criminal law aspects to adult social care, enforcement of one’s rights, The duty to act under the Care and Support Guidance (and other such Codes or Frameworks), The irrelevance of a council's financial resources for whether a need is met; relevant only for HOW, The power to meet ineligible needs, or eligible needs for people who are not ordinarily resident in the area, Universal duties to meet eligible unmet needs adequately and appropriately /

The different legal status of all of the bits of advice and instruction that come down from the Department of Health to councils and health bodies needs to be appreciated by management within local and health authorities, for the purposes of advising Members and Boards as to the legal responsibilities of the organisation (as opposed to aspirations),

Directions and Guidance – legal significance Read More »