Four councils are taking the Government to the High Court in a bid to secure extra funding to cover the cost of carrying out social care assessments for vulnerable adults.
The councils argue that following a Supreme Court judgement back in 2014, more people have had to be assessed to ensure any care decisions made on their behalf are appropriate and in their best interests
The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) assessments are estimated to cost around £400m a year. However, local authorities have only been given a grant of £35m between them to manage the increase.
The four authorities – Liverpool City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and Shropshire Council – have now launched a Judicial Review calling for the judgement to be fully funded by the Government.
Lee Chapman, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for adults, explained: ‘In the two years since the Supreme Court decision in Cheshire West, we have seen the number of requests for applications for Deprivation of Liberty Authorisations increase from approximately 160 to 1,400.
‘That, allied to other significant consequences of the Judgement, and the failure of the Government to provide adequate funding, has left Shropshire Council and other councils with adult social care responsibilities in an impossible position, such that we have been left with no alternative but to commence these proceedings.’
Samih Kalakeche, Liverpool City Council’s director of adult social care and health, added: ‘We fear that, without sufficient funding, we will be failing some of the most vulnerable members of our communities.’
In the aftermath of the judgement, research found DoL applications increased by 74%.