Preparing for discharge for a person who comes from a different area and wants to return there. It appears that LA is refusing to accept S117 responsibility because at the time of arrest, the individual was “rough sleeping.”
Should it not be the case that the authority where the person was rough sleeping, is still the authority of residence?
Hi Martin - I’ve had LAs concede aftercare disputes before when the patient was rough sleeping in their locality. The real question really is whether the patient was “ordinarily resident” in that area prior to admission (relevant common law test: ex Parte Shah) or whether he was transient (in which case s.117(3)(c) is engaged and it would be the same LA accepting responsibility regardless). I think in the majority of situations someone sleeping rough in a locality qualifies as OR there.
Depending how long the case has been ongoing, I might also refer to the The Care and Support (Disputes Between Local Authorities) Regulations 2014 but that would involve making the LA in the area where the patient currently resides aware of the situation if they aren’t already.
Might be worth suggesting the patient find a MH Solicitor. I’ve had many cases where the Tribunal are able to compel a Local Authority to provide proper justification for why they’re refusing s117. There doesn’t seem to be any other Local Authority involved so unless there’s more info left out I think there’s strong prospects they’d accept.