Local Government Ombudsman recommends individual and service level remedies following council failings towards two children and their special guardians Background Mr and Mrs X started caring for two children (referred to in the decision as ‘B’ and ‘C’) as family foster carers after the children were removed from their home because of serious concerns about … Read more
In this issue we revisit the seminal 2012 High Court judgment concerning A and S – two brothers whose human rights were gravely violated while they were in local authority care. The High Court found that because of numerous, protracted failings by the local authority, as well as repeated failure by the boys’ independent reviewing … Read more
In this issue we zoom in on a 2018 judicial review in which the High Court found a local authority had failed to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need, breaching statutory duties under the Children Act 1989 and Children Act 2004. In the same judgment, the High Court concluded a local housing … Read more
In responding today (2 February 2023) to the MacAlister review of children’s social care, whose final report was published in May 2022, the Department for Education has issued two consultation documents – one setting out the government’s strategy for reforming children’s social care, the other seeking feedback on the government’s draft National Framework for Children’s … Read more
A recent (June 2022) decision of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman shines a spotlight on the significant barriers care experienced people can face when requesting access to their care files. We briefly examine this decision, in which a local authority took more than two years to respond to such a request, before considering … Read more