Sexual Relations, Capacity, and Consent: The Supreme Court’s Ruling On 24th November 2021, the Supreme Court handed-down its judgment in the case of A Local Authority (Respondent) v JB (by his Litigation Friend, the Official Solicitor) (Appellant).[1] JB, the subject of proceedings, was at the time of the judgment a 38-year old man who had been living in a supported residential placement since 2014. He was formally assessed in 2011 as having an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, namely Asperger’s syndrome. Proceedings were commenced in the Court of Protection by the Respondent Local Authority, seekin ..read more

NHS Trust changes its Coronavirus visits policy following legal challenge   Our very own Stephanie Oxley has been representing the mother of a young man detained under s.3 Mental Health Act 1983 in a hospital run by Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. The young man has autism, learning disabilities and anxiety. He was detained in the hospital over 2 years ago. The local authority is in the process of arranging a community placement for him, and all parties are working for him to be discharged in the next month. The young man’s parents have visited him twice a week in ho ..read more

Our Court of Protection Teams latest Human Rights Case – Coronavirus, Contact, Liberty and Equality. This case is published here: – https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCOP/2020/17.html&query=(BP)+AND+(v)+AND+(surrey)+AND+(county) Mr Justice Hayden, Vice President of the Court of Protection, yesterday, released his judgement on our application, which was brought to the High Court last week, in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. We asked that the court consider whether the blanket ban implemented by the care home is an infringement of our client’s Articles 5 and 8 Eu ..read more

It’s first important to understand that whilst the term “custody” is the most commonly-used and well-known terminology around the contact with and care of a child, courts no longer refer to it in this way. “Custody” has had many names, including residency and contact orders, but courts now refer to all contact with a child as a “Child Arrangements Order”. The term “custody” is now rarely used within legal proceedings. The equivalent of having custody of a child now would be to have a “live with order”; the other parent would have a “spend time with order”. These orders both come under the term ..read more

In November 2018, the Supreme Court handed down its long-anticipated judgment in the case of Secretary of State for Justice (Respondent) v MM (Appellant) [2018] UKSC 60. The decision of the Supreme Court was that neither the First-tier Tribunal (‘FTT’ or the MHRT for Wales) nor the Secretary of State for Justice (‘SSJ’) are permitted to impose conditions of discharge which would amount to a deprivation of liberty (‘DOL’). In effect, the decision meant that restricted patients who lacked capacity could still be discharged conditionally into a care plan that was so restrictive that it amounted t ..read more

As well as being a time for celebration, Christmas often offers a period of reflection – on relationships as much as anything. For some, family tensions can come to a head at this time of the year, for a number of reasons. One is that couples tend to be in close proximity throughout the Christmas period. It’s less easy at this time to live more-or-less separate lives, and there’s the absence of distractions such as work or school. The presence of in-laws or other family members can also prove difficult for many. Another is the financial strain, with December being an expensive month, what with ..read more

The election of the Conservative government and its large majority means that Brexit is due to leave the EU on 31st January, 2020. The exact shape of Brexit and the potential deals involved is likely to occupy the government for much longer. In the meantime, the situation for people living in the UK who aren’t British citizens is going to remain similarly uncertain for some time to come, with the possibility of a no-deal Brexit further muddying the waters. Immigration and residency issues Whether you’re looking to come and live or work in the UK, or are already here, post-Brexit immigration la ..read more

The discussions surrounding Brexit have often focused on the matter of passports and citizenship. It is well-known that if you have Irish grandparents then you qualify for an Irish passport. The number of applications for Irish passports/citizenship via the ancestry route have rocketed over the past couple of years. What is not so well known is the “ancestry” criteria for a visa that allows an individual to live and work in the UK. Citizens from Commonwealth countries who are able to show that one of their grandparents were born in the UK, Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, can apply for a vi ..read more

Earlier this year the Government announced that it will make it a legal duty of Councils across England to provide safe and secure locations for victims of domestic abuse. The situation has been a bit of a “post code lottery” with facilities varying widely depending on where you are living. The Government is looking to standardise access to safe-houses and accessible help for victims of domestic abuse, across the country. Up to this date there has never been a statutory definition of domestic abuse. The Domestic Abuse Bill looks to not only provide a definition but also to include, for the fir ..read more

An overview of the new Liberty Protection Safeguards (“LPS”) scheme, set to come in to force in October 2020. At present the process of decision making for adults who lack mental capacity to make their own decisions about important subjects such as their welfare, residence and finances, is governed by the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), a set of rules contained within Schedule A1 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. However, now that the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 has received Royal Assent and become law, this is all set to change. The DoLS are due to be replaced by the Liberty ..read more