Appellant bids to take case on duties to children in eviction cases to Supreme Court

An application has been made to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal a Court of Appeal ruling concerning the extent of local authorities’ duties under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 in eviction cases.

Last July the Court of Appeal ruled in Mohamoud v Kensington RLBC, Saleem v Wandsworth LBC [2015] EWCA Civ 789, [2015] HLR 38, that local authorities were not required by section 11 to engage in an assessment of children to find out whether there were facts of which they were unaware, that made it inappropriate to evict the children from their homes, in the light of their best interests.

Counsel for Ms Saleem, Stephen Knafler QC of Garden Court Chambers, said the Legal Aid Agency had now extended public funding for an appeal.

He added that Ms Mohamoud’s case had become academic but Ms Saleem had lodged an application to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal, on the ground that section 11 of the Children Act 2004 did require councils to have regard to the welfare of children before evicting them.

Knafler leads Toby Vanhegan of Arden Chambers. They are instructed by William Flack of TV Edwards, 

Stephen Evans and Angela Hall appeared for Wandsworth LBC before the Court of Appeal, instructed by the Borough Solicitor.

For more information on the Court of Appeal ruling, see: Possession proceedings and the best interests of children by Toby Vanhegan, Christopher Baker and Sam Madge-Wyld. Baker and Madge-Wyld, also of Arden Chambers, appeared for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea in the Mohamoud case.