Claimants ask CoA for permission to challenge 'critical-only' care policy

A group of disabled claimants will today (7 November) seek permission from the Court of Appeal to challenge a local authority’s policy of only providing access to care services to people with needs classed as ‘critical’.

In July, James Dingemans QC, sitting as a Deputy High Court judge, refused permission on a renewed oral application.

The case is being brought by law firm Irwin Mitchell. When it launched the claim in May on behalf of five severely disabled young people, it said it would argue that a critical-only policy was in itself unlawful, as a breach of section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970. The challenge has been backed by charity Mencap.

West Berkshire is one of only three authorities in the country – the others being Northumberland and Wokingham  – to operate a ‘critical-only’ policy under the Fair Access to Care Services/Prioritising Need eligibility scheme. Its policy has been in place since 2003.

Judge Dingemans ruled that a claim that West Berkshire Council’s policy was irrational in the Wednesbury sense was unarguable. He also said it was for local authorities, not the courts, to decide what their social care policies should be.