• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / News Archive / Cost-cutting council warned by court over residential care

Cost-cutting council warned by court over residential care

By John Pring on 16th August 2013 Category: News Archive

Listen

theweeksubA judge has warned a cost-cutting local authority that it will not be allowed to force disabled people into residential care against their wishes.

Disabled campaigners were appalled when Worcestershire County Council approved its new “maximum expenditure policy” last November.

Under the policy, new service-users – or those whose needs change – with a support package where the costs exceed a certain limit will usually be told to meet the shortfall themselves, find a cheaper means of support, or “receive their care in a residential or nursing home”.

In response to the new policy, a disabled 17-year-old, known only as D, took the council to judicial review.

D will soon be accessing adult social care services for the first time, and wants to live independently, but his mother fears this will cost more than a residential home placement.

D’s mother warned that the new policy would see D – and other disabled people – forced to choose between an inadequate home care package or residential care.

His lawyers claimed the council failed to pay due regard to its duties under the Equality Act when deciding on the policy, and failed to make the true consequences of the policy clear during a public consultation.

But the high court has now decided that both the council’s decision-making process and its consultation were lawful.

Although the judge dismissed the judicial review, he said the council – when making decisions on funding – would have to consider its own policy objectives of giving disabled people choice and control, encouraging them to live independently in the community, and having fewer people in residential care.

He added: “It will also be required to take into account its assurances… that no individual will be forced into living in residential care, as a result of this policy alone.”

Dr Sarah Campbell, co-author last year of a report for the We Are Spartacus campaign on the council’s proposals, said: “We are disappointed the consultation process was found to be legal.

“However, we are pleased that the legal case has forced the council to make concrete assurances to a higher authority.”

She said the judge’s warning that nobody could be forced into residential care was “highly positive”, and she welcomed the guidance requiring the council to take into account objectives such as disabled people’s independence and choice of support.

Campbell added: “We still have strong reservations about the policy itself and will reserve judgment until we see the effects of its implementation with the above guidelines strictly adhered to.”

And she warned: “Further court action cannot be ruled out if these are breached or if the effects on disabled people’s quality of life and independence are disproportionate.”

Polly Sweeney, a public law solicitor at Irwin Mitchell, who represented D, warned that the policy itself had not yet been tested in the courts, and also warned that it could be subject to further legal challenges if the council did not implement it carefully.

She said: “We remain significantly concerned that the policy breaches disabled people’s fundamental rights to independent living, and the judgment today recognises that the policy will ‘sacrifice choice and control’ in favour of reducing public expenditure.”

Sweeney welcomed the court’s guidance that the council must balance its other policy objectives when deciding how to implement the policy.

But she said: “It is now over to the council to prove that this policy will not in practice have the impact that we fear it will have.”

Anne Clarke, the council’s interim head of adult social care, said: “We are pleased that the judgement has come down in our favour and we will now be working to implement the policy.

“We are always aware of our duties to fully consult on any major changes to policy and ensure we have due regard to our equalities duties, and the judge has agreed that we have done both regarding the maximum expenditure policy.”

15 August 2013

Share this post:

Share on X (Twitter)Share on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on RedditShare on LinkedIn
A photograph shows an audience raising their hands in a BSL sign. The words say: 'BSL Conference 2025. The future starts with us. Leeds 17-18 July. Be part of shaping the future of Deaf cultures and identities. Get 10% off with BDA10'

Related

‘Muddled’ blue badge reforms ‘are to blame for renewal delays’
6th February 2015
UN debate will be reminder of true inclusive education
6th February 2015
IDS breaks pledge on PIP waiting-times, as tens of thousands still queue for months
30th January 2015

Primary Sidebar

On the left of the image are multiple heads of different colours - white, aqua, red, light brown, and dark green - all grouped together, then the words ‘Campaign for Disability Justice. Sign up to support. #OpportunitySecurityRespect’
A photograph shows an audience raising their hands in a BSL sign. The words say: 'BSL Conference 2025. The future starts with us. Leeds 17-18 July. Be part of shaping the future of Deaf cultures and identities. Get 10% off with BDA10'

Access

Latest Stories

Disabled MP who quit government over benefit cuts tells DNS: ‘The consequences will be devastating’

Disabled peers plan to ‘amend, amend, amend, amend, amend’ after assisted dying bill reaches Lords

Minister finally admits that working-age benefits spending is stable, despite months of ‘spiralling’ claims

This bill opens the door to scandal, abuse and injustice, disabled activists say after assisted dying bill vote

Timms says cuts must go ahead, despite being reminded of risk that disabled claimants could die

Absence of disabled people’s voices from assisted dying bill has been ‘astonishing’, says disabled MP

Timms misleads MPs on DWP transparency and cover-ups, as he gives evidence on PIP review

Ministers are considering further extension to disability hate crime laws, after pledge on ‘aggravated’ offences

Making all self-driving pilot schemes accessible would be ‘counter-productive’ and slow us down, says minister

Involve disabled people ‘meaningfully’ from the start when developing digital assistive tech, says report

Advice and Information

Readspeaker
A photograph shows an audience raising their hands in a BSL sign. The words say: 'BSL Conference 2025. The future starts with us. Leeds 17-18 July. Be part of shaping the future of Deaf cultures and identities. Get 10% off with BDA10'

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2025 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web