CHAPTER 14
Local authorities and private providers
14.1Old and new statutory machinery and introduction Cases
14.17R v Cumbria CC ex p Professional Care Ltd (2000) 3 CCLR 79, QBD In judicial review proceedings, commercial operators must raise issues of law and not seek to engage in commercial litigation by other means
14.18Douce v Staffordshire CC [2002] EWCA Civ 506, (2002) 5 CCLR 347 A local authority might owe a care home operator a duty of care to avoid pure economic loss
14.19R (Birmingham Care Consortium) v Birmingham CC [2002] EWHC 2188 (Admin), (2002) 5 CCLR 600 Care home providers had not established that the rates on offer were unfair, especially when the local authority was able to secure adequate provision at those rates
14.20Hampshire CC v Supportways Community Services Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1035, (2006) 9 CCLR 484 A claim for specific performance of a contract had to fail when the contract had been terminated, lawfully or unlawfully, and public law could not assist the injured party
14.21R (Forest Care Home Limited) v Pembrokeshire CC [2010] EWHC 3514 (Admin), (2011) 14 CCLR 103 The local authority’s methodology failed to assess local costs of providing care home accommodation in the way that it had attempted to do. However, it had been lawful for the local authority to prevent care home owners charging top ups
14.22Amberley (UK) Ltd v West Sussex CC [2011] EWCA Civ 11, (2011) 14 CCLR 178 A contractual entitlement to a review of costs did not authorise a unilateral increase
14.23R (Broadway Care Centre Ltd) v Caerphilly CBC [2012] EWHC 37 (Admin), (2012) 15 CCLR 82 Termination of a framework agreement for care home placements was governed solely by private law
14.24R (Mavalon Care Ltd) v Pembrokeshire CC [2011] EWHC 3371 (Admin), (2012) 15 CCLR 229 An irrational failure to comply with the methodology adopted meant that the local authority had failed to have regard to the actual cost of care locally
14.25R (Bevan & Clarke Ltd) v Neath Port Talbot CBC [2012] EWHC 236 (Admin), (2012) 15 CCLR 294 Decisions about what standard rates to pay were, at least in Wales, public law decisions
14.26R (Davis) v West Sussex CC [2012] EWHC 2152 (Admin) A complaint about the way a local authority investigated abuse allegations involved contractual provisions but was sufficiently public to permit judicial review, in that the allegations would have been investigated irrespective of the existence of the contract
14.27R (South West Care Homes Ltd) v Devon CC [2012] EWHC 1867 (Admin) A local authority has a broad discretion when assessing the usual cost of providing care locally
14.28R (South West Care Homes Ltd) v Devon CC [2012] EWHC 2967 (Admin) A local authority deciding what standard rates to pay for care home placements had to discharge the PSED, which this authority had not done
14.29R (Members of the Committee of Care North East Northumberland) v Northumberland CC [2013] EWCA Civ 1740, (2014) 17 CCLR 117 Local authorities are entitled to choose how to assess local care costs and what level of enquiry to undertake, subject to rationality
14.30R (Torbay Quality Care Forum Ltd) v Torbay Council [2014] EWHC 4321 (Admin) In this case, the Council’s fee-setting had been irrational
14.31Abbeyfield Newcastle upon Tyne Society Ltd v Newcastle CC [2014] EWHC 2437 (Ch), (2014) 17 CCLR 430 Where a framework agreement expired, the local authority had to pay for new placement on a quantum meruit basis, not at the old rates
14.32Carewatch Care Services Ltd v Focus Caring Services Ltd [2014] EWHC 2313 (Ch) Franchise agreements did not contain an implied term of good faith, preventing the franchisor from developing its own rival business and restrictive covenants, binding on the franchisee, were lawful at common law and did not infringe the Competition Act 1998
14.33Menon and Others v Herefordshire Council [2015] EWHC 2165 (QB) It was not appropriate to order disclosure of documents containing local authority legal advice, in an action in misfeasance against it
14.34R (Forge Care Homes Ltd) v Cardiff & Vale University Health Board [2016] EWCA Civ 26, (2016) 19 CCLR 62 Local health boards were not required to pay for all the care provided by registered nurses, only for the tasks that only a registered nurse could perform
14.35Menon and Others v Herefordshire Council [2016] EWHC 498 (QB) On the facts, social workers engaged in terminating the local authority’s relationship with a care home had not been guilty of misfeasance in public office