Oxfordshire fends off £4m compensation claim

Oxfordshire County Council has successfully defended a claim for more than £4m from a disabled girl over the local authority’s alleged failure to secure compensation promptly on her behalf.

The 17-year-old girl was left needing 24-hour care after she was violently shaken by her father in 1994 when she was one.

Her barrister, Frank Burton QC, argued at the High Court that Oxfordshire had assumed parental responsibility and should have applied promptly to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board for compensation.

A delay in applying meant her application was dealt with by the CICB’s less generous replacement, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Neither the council’s social worker nor its legal department were aware of the impending imposition of a £500,000 ceiling under the CICA scheme. The social worker waited until after resolution of care proceedings before submitting a claim.

This delay was said to have reduced the girl’s payout from a predicted £3.2m to the £500,000 ceiling. The girl’s claim against Oxfordshire was for the difference in payout plus interest.

In the High Court, Mr Justice Mackay ruled that there was no duty of care to make an application in the circumstances of the case.

He said that while the local authority had a power to apply under the Criminal Injuries Scheme on the claimant’s behalf, it was not under a duty to maximise the child’s economic position by allocating time and resources to a pursuit of all available financial claims in a situation where a parent retains a share of parental rights (as the claimant’s mother did in this case).

The judge said the council’s primary focus was rightly on the physical welfare and safety of the child and the rebuilding of the family unit, and that this was done in a way that was “assiduous and thoughtful”.

Mr Justice Mackay also ruled that even if he had found that there had been a duty, there was no professional failure by either the council’s child care team or the legal department.

A feature article on the case, written by Oxfordshire’s lawyers Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, will appear on Local Government Lawyer next week.