header-logo header-logo

Mental health aftercare—which authority pays?

15 December 2023 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 8053 / Categories: Features , Local government
printer mail-detail
151426
Nicholas Dobson expertly dissects the allocation of financial responsibility for aftercare in a recent case
  • Covers R (Worcestershire County Council) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
  • The duty under s 117(2) of the Mental Health Act to provide aftercare services automatically ceases if and when the person concerned is detained under s 3 (or another provision specified in s 117(1)).
  • The words ‘ordinarily resident in’ in s 117(3)(a) must be given their usual meaning.

Back in the 1950s two strange little fellows with bizarre voices were all the rage on children’s TV. For Bill and Ben were the Flower Pot Men, who not only lived in two adjacent flower pots (with a friendly weed in the middle) but were also made of flower pots. One of the chaps would frequently cause a mishap, prompting a soprano narrator to sing: ‘Was it Bill or was it Ben; which of those two Flower Pot Men?’

This ditty recently came to mind in the much more serious context of financial

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll