R (Miss Glen Walford) v Worcestershire County Council, Secretary of State for Health intervening

The Administrative Court has quashed a decision of Worcestershire County Council to take into account, when assessing ability to pay care home charges, a resident's former home. The case related to the exemption from means-testing which applies where a resident's former property is occupied as their home by a relative aged over 60, and involved a resident's daughter who moved between the family home and another property for work purposes. Mr Justice Supperstone found that the defendant local authority had erred in law by: (i) conflating the concept of "occupation as a home" with that of "permanent residence"; and (ii) wrongly considering that the application of the exemption could only be determined on a once-and-for-all basis at the time of the resident's admission into care.
 
Fraser Campbell, instructed by Tom Cassels and Anjuli Patel of Baker & McKenzie, acted pro bono for the successful claimant.