“Leapfrogged” welfare deputyship case to be heard in Court of Appeal this week

According to law firm Rook Irwin Sweeney, the Official Solicitor has been joined as an advocate to the court and the Public Guardian has been granted permission to intervene.

This comes after the case was “leapfrogged” directly to the Court of Appeal, pursuant to Practice Direction 20B Court of Protection Rules 2017.

Among other issues, the appellants will invite the court to clarify:

• The correct approach to the scope of welfare deputyship orders (that is, the areas in which welfare deputies are permitted to make decisions in particular cases) and whether there is anything in law that suggests that the starting point is that the scope of the applications ought to be limited and ought to exclude, for example, decisions relating to residence.
• Whether there is an evidential threshold for the making of such orders, for example, should the applicant(s) be required to establish that collaborative decision making under s.4 of the MCA has been attempted but failed; and
• Whether the making of welfare deputyship orders of this nature represents an “infringement of [P]’s right to autonomy” as found at first instance, taking account of the opposite conclusion reached by Mr Justice Poole in the case of Parr.

The appellants JB and SB are represented by Alex Rook and Katie Sinclair of Rook Irwin Sweeney, and Steve Broach KC and Francesca Gardner of 39 Essex Chambers.

Lottie Winson