County council defeats High Court challenge to closure of drop-in facilities for adults with mental health difficulties

Devon County Council was not required to take into account various statutory duties under the Care Act and other statutory provisions when it decided to close a non-statutory service, the High Court has found.

The council was taken to court by two users of North Devon Link, which provided drop-in facilities for adults with mental health difficulties.

Mr Justice Eyre was told Devon’s cabinet decided in March 2024 to close the service and to work with Devon Partnership NHS Trust - an interested party in the case - and Devon Mental Health Alliance to support service users in alternative community services.

This was due to pressures on Devon’s budget forcing it to review non-statutory services, and because other public bodies were providing alternatives that met users’ needs.

The two claimants challenged this on grounds of Devon’s alleged failure to take account of its statutory duties under sections 2, 3, and 5 of the Care Act 2014 and under section 2B of the National Health Service Act 2006, and that it failed to take account of a number of its policies and strategies.

They further argued closing the service was outside the range of rational decisions open to the council and the decision was demonstrably flawed by the failure to consider these policies.

Devon argued it was not required to have regard to these various statutory duties or policies concerning a service it optionally provided.

It also invoked the Senior Courts Act 1981 saying the outcome would not have been substantially different if it had considered these.

Eyre J said it was not open to the claimants to argue that in providing the service or deciding to close it Devon was performing duties under the Care Act or the National Health Service Act.

He said: “The argument would fall at the first hurdle because I am satisfied that neither in providing the service, nor in making the decision, was the defendant performing duties under the Care Act. The provision of the service was avowedly a non-statutory provision made by the defendant and was not regarded by the defendant as being undertaken pursuant to any statutory duty.”

The judge said it was significant that no equivalent service was provided elsewhere in Devon by the county council and so its discontinuation “brought the arrangements in those parts of North Devon where the service operated into line with the position in the rest of the county”.

Eyre J dismissed the rationality point as Devon had been “entitled to proceed on the basis of its understanding of the nature of the service”.

11KBW’s Jonathan Auburn KC and Oliver Jackson, who acted for Devon, commented: “The judgment will impact on public authority decisions on service closures and rearrangements generally.”

They went on to explain: “Eyre J found that the council’s decision to close the service was lawful. The council had been under no legal obligation to have regard to specific duties under the Care Act 2014 and other statutory provisions.

“The judge carefully reviewed the correct approach to when such wider statutory duties and policies constituted mandatory considerations in decision-making, clarifying the law in this area.”

Mark Smulian