Supreme Court to hand down landmark community care ruling tomorrow

The Supreme Court is expected to hand down tomorrow its ruling in a landmark community care case.

The case of R (on the application of KM) v Cambridgeshire County Council was heard in February this year, with judgment reserved.

It relates to the appropriate payment to meet the needs of a 26-year-old man with a range of serious physical and mental disabilities.

The Court will rule on issues such as whether the level of explanation given by the local authority was adequate and whether the decision was irrational – as argued by the claimant – because the amount was manifestly insufficient to meet the man’s assessed eligible needs.

Cambridgeshire had calculated that the direct payment required to meet KM’s assessed needs should be £84,678 a year – almost half the sum (£157,060) estimated by an independent social worker.

The local authority had used a Resource Allocation Scheme to work out the appropriate payment. Additional funding was also made available through an Upper Banding Calculator that the council uses in severe cases.

The Court of Appeal found in Cambridgeshire’s favour in June 2011, although the judges were sympathetic to the claimant’s submission that the council did not give adequate reasons for its decision.

The Supreme Court reportedly decided after hearing submissions at the February hearing that it would not review the 1997 House of Lords ruling in R v Gloucestershire CC ex p Barry.

The principles of the Barry judgment, which permits local authorities to take their resources into account when meeting assessed needs for social care, still apply to community care decisions under s. 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

However, the Supreme Court’s prospective ruling is still expected to be very significant because of what the judges will say about the use of Resource Allocation Schemes.

Such schemes have proved controversial, with local authorities often refusing to explain how they operate.