“A 39-year-old woman and her two younger siblings have won a total of £100,000 in an out-of-court settlement with Hackney council in east London because it failed to remove them as children from their abusive home.”
The Guardian, 17th September 2007
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The system of councils in England is to be reformed, with the creation of nine new unitary authorities.”
BBC News, 26th July 2007
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Parent is owed no duty of care by children’s social workers
Lawrence v. Pembrokeshire County Council
Court of Appeal
“The right to respect for family life, guaranteed by article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, did not outweigh the duty of a local authority to protect children at risk by placing them on the Child Protection Register.”
The Times, 29th May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
County’s duty as highway authority
O’Connor and Others v. Wiltshire County Council
Court of Appeal
“A county council could not contract out its liability to maintain a public highway even if the highway had been constructed by someone who had not been a highway authority and contribution towards the costs of the construction of the road had been made by a third party.”
The Times, 28th May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
“Local authorities should conduct a risk assessment before sharing personal data with other public bodies. Sharing can be legitimate, but only when the benefits and risks have been weighed up, the Information Commissioner has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 25th May 2007
Source: www.out-law.com
Appeal still available
Wolverhampton City Council v. Special Educational Needs and Disabilty Tribunal and Another
Queen’s Bench Division
“Where, even though a local authority’s educational responsibility for a child had lapsed, the council had made a decision to end the statementing of a child then that decision was open to appeal.”
The Times, 25th May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
Lawrence v. Pembrokeshire County Council [2007] EWCA Civ 446
“The Human Rights Act 1998 did not give rise to a duty of care to the parent of a child on the part of a local authority when exercising, through social workers, its duty to protect children from abuse. The local authority’s principal duty was to the child in need of protection, and there were powerful public policy reasons for not having a duty of care to the parents. There was no reason to treat social workers in this context any differently from policemen or doctors who were not subject to such a duty of care.”
WLR Daily, 14th May 2007
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
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