header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Children at risk of deprivation of liberty

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.
02 April 2025
Issue: 8111 / Categories: Legal News , Child law , Local authority , Community care , Legal aid focus
printer mail-detail
Local authorities are increasingly using ‘deprivation of liberty’ orders to house troubled children in unregistered accommodation often many miles from home, the Law Society has warned.

Ministry of Justice figures published last week show 1,280 High Court ‘deprivation of liberty’ applications were made for children in 2024. 132 were for children aged 12 years and under, 734 were for children aged 13-15, and 414 were aged 16-18 years.

The Law Society highlighted that a lack of secure children’s home places meant unregistered accommodation was often used for children, and that families are not automatically eligible for legal aid.

Urging the government to make legal aid available, Richard Atkinson, president of the Law Society, said: ‘These are distressing cases with children who may have faced trauma and/or have physical and mental disabilities.’

Issue: 8111 / Categories: Legal News , Child law , Local authority , Community care , Legal aid focus
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Trans pool player loses discrimination fight
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: Fraud claims climb as courts brace for AI threats
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
NLJ this week: Traders’ convictions quashed in Libor shock
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
NLJ this week: Small firms call for tech clarity as AI looms
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: AI boom collides with courtroom reality
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll