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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Barking And Dagenham, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Health [2017] EWHC 2449 (Admin) (05 October 2017) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2017/2449.html Cite as: [2017] EWHC 2449 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
(sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge)
____________________
THE QUEEN (on the application of LONDON BOROUGH OF BARKING AND DAGENHAM) |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH |
Defendant |
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- and - |
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(1) LONDON BOROUGH OF REDBRIDGE (2) HR |
Interested Parties |
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Tim Buley (instructed by the Secretary of State for Health) for the Defendant
Deok Joo Rhee QC (instructed by LB Redbridge) for the First Interested Party
The Second Interested Party did not appear
Hearing date: 14 September 2017
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Crown Copyright ©
Justine Thornton QC :
Introduction
i) did the hiatus in HR's care in August 2012 trigger the section 21 duty on Redbridge? This turns on the question of whether the hiatus meant HR's care needs could only be met by the provision of residential accommodation under the section, which is a precondition for its application. It is common ground that the other preconditions are satisfied, namely that HR was in need of care and attention by virtue of his mental disabilities (issue i).
ii) If the section 21 duty on Redbridge was triggered, does the deeming provision in section 24(5) apply for so long as HR receives care and assistance under Part 3 of the NAA or only for so long as accommodation was provided under section 21. The practical significance of this issue is that the funding dispute between the two local authorities relates to the period from July 2013. If, as Barking contend, the deeming provision in section 24(5) continues to apply whilst care is provided under Part 3, Redbridge remains responsible for HR's care beyond April 2013 and through July 2013 when HR's care was provided pursuant to section 29 of the Act (issue ii).
Factual Background
Legal Framework
"(1)Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act, a local authority may with the approval of the Secretary of State, and to such extent as he may direct shall, make arrangements for providing —
(a) residential accommodation for persons aged eighteen or over who by reason of age, illness, disability or any other circumstances are in need of care and attention which is not otherwise available to them;
(4) Subject to the provisions of section 26 of this Act accommodation provided by a local authority in the exercise of their functions under this section shall be provided in premises managed by the authority …
(5) References in this Act to accommodation provided under this part thereof shall be construed as references to accommodation provided in accordance with this and the five next following sections, and as including references to board and other services, amenities and requisites provided in connection with the accommodation except where in the opinion of the authority managing the premises their provision is unnecessary.
(8) Nothing in this section shall authorise or require a local authority to make any provision authorised or required to be made (whether by that or by any other authority) by or under any enactment not contained in this Part of this Act or authorised or required to be provided under the National Health Service Act 2006."
"Authority liable for provision of accommodation.
(1) The local authority [empowered] under this Part of this Act to provide residential accommodation for any person shall subject to the following provisions of this Part of this Act be the authority in whose area the person is ordinarily resident.
(5) Where a person is provided with residential accommodation under this Part of this Act, he shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to continue to be ordinarily resident in the area in which he was ordinarily resident immediately before the residential accommodation was provided for him."
"A local authority may, with the approval of the Secretary of State, and to such extent as he may direct in relation to persons ordinarily resident in the area of the local authority shall make arrangements for promoting the welfare of persons to whom this section applies."
The Secretary of State's determination and review
"HR has been ordinarily resident in Barking's area at least from June or July 2013 if not earlier, that is to say from:
- The date when he moved into [Barking's area] on a long term basis which appears to have been 15 September 2012 (the date he apparently began residing there);
- 11 or 18 April 2013, when a tenancy agreement was signed on his behalf; or
- 22 April 2013, when Housing Benefit started being paid for him by [Barking]. [3]
"In my view HR was receiving the care and attention he required whilst living in private residential accommodation. However equally the services he required could have been provided by another provider. Those services were not intrinsically linked to the accommodation. Accordingly I find that [Redbridge] were perfectly lawfully making arrangements other than under section 21 [46]
Section 29 of the 1948 Act and the Directions issued under that section require the provision of certain welfare services to individuals such as HR. Such services are provided in the community. It is clear that the services provided to HR come within the nature of services which can be provided in a person's own home under these provisions" [47]
Therefore the provision of residential care under Part 3 of the 1948 Act was not the only option open to [Redbridge] when making its decision as to how to properly meet HR's needs for care and support. There is no evidence to show that [Redbridge's] assessment was not reasonably or properly made or that [Redbridge] could not reasonably conclude that HR's needs could be appropriately met by the provision of services under section 29 of the 1948 Act in supported living accommodation rather than by the provision of residential accommodation under Part 3 of the 1948 Act [52]."
"on the premise that the care and attention HR needed were available, in fact by the provision of services in his own accommodation and that in the circumstances the link between the availability of care and attention and the provision of accommodation under section 21 was broken or disaggregated"[45]
"I therefore remain of the view that there is no basis for me to interfere with [Redbridge's] findings of fact in relation to the availability of care and attention otherwise than by the provision of residential accommodation. Per Wahid it was for the local authority to assess whether or not the conditions of section 21 were fulfilled" [53]
The Claimant's grounds of challenge
The Claimant's submissions on issue i)
Discussion
Issue ii) – application of section 24(5)
Participation of the First Interested Party in the hearing
Conclusion