Facts: P lived in a care home in London but sought an assessment from Berkshire, where he used to live. A dispute arose as to where P was ordinarily resident and Berkshire declined to assess P’s needs on the ground that he was not ordinarily resident in Berkshire.

Judgment: Laws J held that the duty to assess arose whenever a local authority had power to provide services to a person who it appeared might need them and that, since a local authority was entitled to provide services to a person who was ordinarily resident in another area, the duty to assess had arisen.