Councils have been able to press ahead with budget cuts, despite successful legal challenges two high-profile cases have highlighted.
In May, a High Court ruling found Birmingham City Council’s budget setting and decision to restrict eligibility criteria to those with critical needs were unlawful under equality laws.
Some 4,000 people with substantial needs, including adults with severe learning disabilities and their families, would have had care costs withdrawn.
Adults and communities cabinet member, Sue Anderson, recently informed a full council meeting that legal scrutiny of the judgement proved the principle of refusing care packages was not in itself unlawful.
Refusing to rule out a reintroduction of the £53m cuts scheme next year, Cllr Anderson said the council’s inability to clearly show other possible care routes, enforced by the need to reassure the public it was consulting openly, was to blame.
Similarly, and despite a judicial review due to take place on 27 September, Gloucestershire CC will press ahead with plans to work with community groups wishing to take over 10 of the authority’s libraries.
Council leader, Mark Hawthorne, said the council would continue to support them to develop their business plans. ‘We have always been confident in our library strategy. I’m pleased that we only have to wait until September for the full hearing,’ he said.
