Coronavirus Act 2020 and social care

March 27th, 2020 by Jonathan Auburn

The Coronavirus Bill is now through Parliament and becomes the Coronavirus Act 2020. The main provisions affecting adult social care are found in Schedule 12. One headline point is Read more »

 

Court of Appeal rules that NMW does not apply to sleep-in care

July 13th, 2018 by Jonathan Auburn

The Court of Appeal has today ruled that the national minimum wage (“NMW”) does not apply to the time sleep-in carers spend asleep. This means that Read more »

 

Legal challenge to the new model of health and social care bodies

July 10th, 2018 by Jonathan Auburn

In the recent case of R (Hutchinson & Anor) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care & Anor the Administrative Court considered a challenge to the creation of a new model for the provision of health and social care in England. Read more »

 

Improper approaches to determining care budgets

May 10th, 2018 by Jonathan Auburn

In a recent report, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (“LGSCO”) has made some important findings about how local authorities may, and may not, calculate the cost of people’s care under the Care Act 2014. Read more »

 

Restitution claims for failure to pay for aftercare services

December 18th, 2017 by Jonathan Auburn

If an individual has in years past paid him or herself for mental health aftercare services, which should have been paid for by public bodies, does that person have a valid restitution claim to be refunded the monies spent? Read more »

 

Limitation period for LA recovery of care home fees

December 12th, 2017 by Jonathan Auburn

Last year I blogged about the issue of the limitation period for claims brought by local authorities for recovery of care home fees which they have paid and seek to recover from the individual care home resident or their estate. At the time I was concerned that there may be a gap in the law. Curiously, that blog post itself led to a court case which has now resolved the issue.

The issue, in a nutshell is this: section 69(3)(b) of the Care Act 2014 provides for a three year limitation period on claims brought by local authorities for the recovery of care home fees. This appeared to represent no change in the law. Yet the previous limitation period, applicable when section 56 of the National Assistance Act 1948 still governed such claims, was generally six years rather than three. Read more »

 

R (Davey) v Oxfordshire CC in the Court of Appeal

September 7th, 2017 by Andrew Sharland

Last Friday the Court of Appeal delivered judgment in R (Davey) v Oxfordshire CC [2017] EWCA Civ 1308. This is the first time the Court of Appeal has examined the provisions of the Care Act 2014. We were cautious about blogging about the High Court judgment ([2017] EWHC 354 (Admin)) whilst it was on appeal, as members of our chambers were in the case. Now that the appeal has been decided, we can speak more freely.

Read more »

 

The Children and Social Work Act 2017

June 14th, 2017 by Jonathan Auburn

After significant controversy and substantial amendments, the Children and Social Work Act 2017 received royal assent on 27 April. While the majority of the legislation is not yet in force, the changes contained in the Act will have important implications for the regulation of social work in England, safeguarding of children, and investigations into the death of children. In addition, the Act clarifies and amends the obligations of local authorities as corporate parents. Read more »

 

New social care charging circular for local authorities

February 16th, 2017 by Jonathan Auburn

On 8 February 2017, the Department of Health published a new circular for local authorities, addressing charging practices for the 2017/18 financial year. By virtue of section 78 of the Care Act 2014 local authorities are required to comply with this Circular. Read more »