header-logo header-logo

15 December 2023 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 8053 / Categories: Features , Local government
printer mail-detail

Mental health aftercare—which authority pays?

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

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

WSP Solicitors—David Ashcroft & Jessica O’Shea

WSP Solicitors—David Ashcroft & Jessica O’Shea

Commercial property and child law teams expand with senior hires

Duxton Hill Chambers—Lucas Bastin KC & Joshua Hiew

Duxton Hill Chambers—Lucas Bastin KC & Joshua Hiew

Set expands London and Singapore offering with senior international disputes hires

Gilson Gray—Gregor Duthie & Stephen Forsyth

Gilson Gray—Gregor Duthie & Stephen Forsyth

Firm strengthens real estate and litigation teams with partner promotions

NEWS
Behind the profession’s polished exterior, lawyers are ‘internally drained rather than physically tired’, according to a stark assessment of burnout in legal practice
Five years after the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force, concerns remain that the family courts continue to minimise allegations of abuse in child contact disputes
Uber has built a formidable strategy for insulating itself from liability for drivers’ conduct, but the legal terrain differs sharply between the US and England and Wales
The Civil Justice Council’s review of Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 could mark the end of what one commentator calls an ‘outdated’ and overly technical regime governing solicitor-client fee disputes
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026 marks a constitutional watershed by severing the centuries-old link between hereditary titles and automatic membership of the upper chamber
back-to-top-scroll