Facts: the claimants sought a judicial review of charges imposed on them for after-care services under section 117 of the MHA 1983, in particular for the provision of residential accommodation.

Judgment: the House of Lords (Lords Slynn, Mackay, Steyn, Hutton and Millet) held that after-care services, including residential accommodation, were provided under section 117 of the MHA 1983 and not under the community care statutes. Since section 117 contained no charging provision, consequently it was unlawful to charge for after-care services.

Comment: this remains the position, except that it is now possible for a person entitled to accommodation as after-care under section 117 of the MHA 1983 to choose their ‘preferred accommodation’ under section 30 of the Care Act 2014 and ‘top up’ the cost, that is, pay the difference between the sum the local authority would usually expect to pay for accommodation and the actual cost (in cases where the preferred accommodation is more expensive than reasonable quality accommodation that meets the patient’s needs, available in the local market): see ‘Preferred accommodation’ at paras 9.45–9.52 above.