
Luton Borough Council was prosecuted by the HSE late last year following an incident at a high school in which an assistant headteacher was attacked by a pupil and left with life-changing injuries.
The short answer to this is yes.
It is a question that comes up many times when acting for clients in a personal injury or clinical negligence claim. The issue has recently come before the High Court in judicial review proceedings brought by Wokingham Borough Council.
The Council challenged the decision of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman that when assessing an individual’s financial means for the purpose of eligibility for funded social care, an award of compensation in a personal injury claim cannot be taken into account.
The Council disagreed with this and went to the High Court in an attempt to quash the decision on the grounds of ‘double recovery’.
In the case involving Wokingham Borough Council, a lady had received a personal injury award of £1.3 million for medical negligence. She applied to the Council for social-funded care to meet her needs. When carrying out its financial assessment, the Council did not disregard the personal injury settlement and assessed her as having capital over the threshold to qualify for funded care. She complained about this and her complaint was upheld by the Ombudsman.
The position remains that whilst councils will expect people with capital over £23,250 to pay for their own care, some forms of capital must be disregarded, including a personal injury settlement.
This is good news for individuals whose injuries very often means a lifetime of care needs. Not always does a personal injury claim get settled on a 100% basis of the cost of lifetime needs. In those cases, there will be a shortfall in funds and so a reliance on local authority funding is necessary.
At Anthony Collins Solicitors, we have a team of lawyers who specialise in securing settlements for individuals who have suffered injuries. The work we do both during the litigation case and post-settlement includes helping our clients with getting assessments of needs for funded social care, as well as making sure that settlement awards have the security of a Personal Injury Trust, to protect an individual from loss of all means-tested benefits. Within our team to add to the expertise in this specialist area we have a former social worker and former practice nurse.
For further information about any of the issues raised in this article, please contact Sarah Huntbach acts on behalf of clients who have suffered catastrophic and life-changing injuries including head and spinal injuries from road traffic accidents, birth injury claims and serious injuries following surgical errors. Sarah can be contacted on 0121 212 7476 or sarah.huntbach@anthonycollins.com
Luton Borough Council was prosecuted by the HSE late last year following an incident at a high school in which an assistant headteacher was attacked by a pupil and left with life-changing injuries.
This ebriefing looks at the proposal to set out 'public procurement principles' in the proposed procurement legislation.
Happy New Year - our first newsletter of 2021! Throughout this year we will continue to bring you news and developments relating to the charities sector.
Local authorities should be wary of reserving contracts for local suppliers, as recommended by Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 11/20. Other contracting authorities may want to maximise their use of this
Most housing practitioners have perhaps been waiting for this news since the latest lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister on 4 January 2021.
Climate change and biodiversity is an area where significantly faster changes are needed on a global and local basis.
Chris Lloyd Smith, Adrian Leonard and Lisa Whitehouse discuss the planning opportunities available to owners of businesses and how to prepare for unforeseen events.
In their 3rd podcast of the series, Chris Lloyd-Smith and Maria Ramon discuss a number of problems with and difficulties that can arise in mediation and the mechanisms they use to overcome them.
Our previous round-up began by sharing the news that two vaccines had shown very promising test results. Here we are, not even a month later, and the first vaccines have already been administered!
The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated that there is great resilience and innovation in the housing sector across Greater Manchester, it has also brought shortfalls and other priorities sharply into foc
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.