James Goudie KC and Hannah Slarks appeared for the four claimant local authorities and Jason Coppel KC and Joanne Clement for the defendant Secretary of State in one of the Lawyer Magazine’s “Top 20 cases” for 2017, R (Liverpool City Council and others v Secretary of State for Health, which was heard on 15 and 16 March 2017, and in which Garnham J has given Judgment in the Administrative Court on 2 May 2017. The case concerns funding for local authorities in England to implement the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards regime, whether the level of funding gives rise to an “unacceptable risk of illegality” which gives rise to a ground of challenge distinct from irrationality, and whether there is a departure from the Government’s “New Burdens” policy which constitutes breach of a legitimate expectation.
Read judgment here.
