The Case

Where the defendant sought to avoid paying the cost of the claimant's future care on the basis that the local authority would be required to fund such care under of the National Assistance Act 1948, and the authority maintained that it would be entitled to look to the claimant for a financial contribution to that care, the court ruled that: the plain effect of s 21 of 1948 Act was that in making any assessment of the claimant's capital for the purpose of determining her liability to reimburse the local authority for the cost of residential accommodation and care, the whole amount of any award to the claimant would be disregarded, and that it was entirely reasonable for the claimant not to rely on the statutory obligation of the local authority to provide for her, where the alternative of recovery from the defendants was available to her. Even if matters were otherwise equal as between relying on the authority and recovering from the defendants, which they were not, the claimant would be fully entitled as a matter of law to choose to pursue the defendants.