Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2002] All ER (D) 209 (Mar)
Court: Administrative Court
Judge:

Elias J
Representation Kate Markus (instructed by Bindman & Partners) for the claimant.
  Bryan McGuire (instructed by John Cawston) for the authority.
  Philip Sales (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the Secretary of State, as intervener.
Judgment Dates: 4 March 2002

Catchwords

Local authority - Statutory duty - Statutory duty owed in relation to the welfare of children - Provision of services for children in need - Family seeking to be re-housed - Claimant overstaying in United Kingdom - Whether authority's duty to safeguard and promote welfare of children empowering or encompassing provision of finance to secure accommodation for the claimant and her child - Whether any power to provide such assistance to overstayers - Whether body of legislation incompatible with claimant's human rights - s 21 - s 17 - ss 2, 3.

The Case

Applying settled principles, there was no power to provide financial assistance to secure accommodation for the family under s17 of the . There was, however, such power under s2 of the as it was inapt to describe any area where no power had been conferred as constituting a prohibition, restriction or limitation on the s2 power for the purposes of s3(1) of that Act. Accordingly, there was power under s2 to provide financial assistance to an overstayer in the United Kingdom to secure accommodation for her and her child. The court also commented that it would be inappropriate to grant a formal declaration of incompatibility where it is a body of legislation, taken together, that does not provide a power to enable compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Practice Areas

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