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11 July 2014 / Jennifer Kotilaine
Issue: 7614 / Categories: Features , Local government , Public , Community care
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There’s no place like home

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A recent Court of Appeal ruling on residence is a significant one for local authorities, as Jennifer Kotilaine explains

The case of R (Cornwall Council) v Secretary of State for Health & Ors v Wiltshire Council, South Gloucestershire Council, Somerset County Council [2014] EWCA Civ 12, [2014] All ER (D) 170 (Feb) concerns local authority duties in respect of severely incapacitated care leavers. In particular, it concerns the difference and relationship between the duty to assist in the Children Act 1989 (CA 1989), s 23C and the duty to accommodate in the National Assistance Act 1948 (NAA 1948), s 21.

It also clarifies the law relating to “ordinary residence” under s 24 of NAA 1948 where an individual lacks capacity to decide where to live, whether a care leaver or not.

Facts

P, born in Wiltshire on 27 December 1986, is a person with complex physical and severe learning disabilities. He does not speak and lacks capacity. In 1991, P was accommodated by Wiltshire Council at the request of

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