Immigration

Section 23C(4)(c) of the Children Act 1989 was not concerned with the provision of accommodation. Even if that were wrong, an authority was entitled to base a decision whether to terminate its provision of accommodation on the likelihood of the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) providing assistance, at least until the outcome of any application to NASS for support was known.

Asylum seekers and failed asylum seekers were a different category of person to the ‘infirm destitute’ for the purposes of determining where the duty to accommodate fell. There was a clear practical purpose in differentiating between the two groups. Those who needed accommodation and had particular medical needs were better looked after by local authorities which had the facilities to do so, while the able-bodied were more suited to being looked after by a central governmental organisation.