The relationship between foster parents and a local authority was held to be akin to employment even though the foster parents and foster child were related, in a recent Court of Appeal case on vicarious liability for abuse suffered
Writing in this week’s NLJ, Christopher Ratcliffe, solicitor advocate and senior lecturer at Nottingham Law School, examines the case of DJ v Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and another [2024] EWCA Civ 841.
Ratcliffe considers the reasoning behind the decision and the implications for future cases. He notes the court declined to lay down a blanket rule on the matter, and considers whether there are implications for future cases.
Ratcliffe writes: ‘An interesting element of DJ is the court’s consideration of the motive of the foster parents—that DJ was only fostered because he was their nephew. While the lower courts had attributed weight to motive, the Court of Appeal have made it clear that “motive is not relevant to determining whether the relationship between the [local authority] and the foster carer is akin to employment”.’
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