The High Court has this afternoon (16 March 2022) handed down its judgment on controversial secondary legislation which protects children in care aged 15 and under but not those aged 16 and 17. It has rejected all three grounds of Article 39’s claim: that the Education Secretary irrationally discriminated against 16 and 17 year-olds; that … Read more
On 10 February 2022, the Competition and Markets Authority finally released correspondence to Article 39, which we requested on 26 February 2021 using the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Competition and Markets Authority had refused to release the information, relying on the exemption in section 31(1)(g) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Article … Read more
On Monday night (28 February), the government refused to accept a Lords’ amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which would have allowed local authorities to run a new type of secure children’s home. Labour pushed the matter to a vote at around 10pm; the government succeeded 314 to 190 votes. Secure 16 … Read more
In this issue, we take a closer look at a November 2021 decision of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman which found a local authority had failed to accommodate a child under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, breaching statutory guidance and its own local guidance for social workers. The Ombudsman accepted the … Read more
In a two-day hearing starting today (8 February), the High Court will be told that the Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, has irrationally discriminated against children in care aged 16 and 17 by making secondary legislation which only protects children aged 15 and under. Lawyers acting for a small children’s rights charity, Article … Read more