CHAPTER 22
Learning disability and autism
22.1Introduction and statutory machinery Cases
22.11R v Avon CC ex p M (1999) 2 CCLR 185, [1994] 2 FCR 259 Needs can include an entrenched psychological need for a particular service
22.12R (Alloway) v Bromley LBC [2004] EWHC 2108 (Admin), (2005) 8 CCLR 61 A local authority fetters its discretion if it rules out one service from the start on costs grounds and does not fairly compare the rival options
22.13Autism-Europe v France (complaint 13/2002) (2004) 38 EHRR CD 265 The European Committee of Social Rights declared admissible a complaint that France was in breach of the revised European Social Charter by failing to ensure that children and adults were entitled to education in mainstream schools in sufficient numbers
22.14R (Bishop) v Bromley LBC [2006] EWHC 2148 (Admin), (2006) 9 CCLR 635 Prior assessments were only required in service closure cases where there were exceptional circumstances
22.15R (JL) v Islington LBC [2009] EWHC 458 (Admin), (2009) 12 CCLR 322 It is unlawful simply to apply a new eligibility policy without genuinely assessing needs; further, the local authority had not discharged the disability equality duty because there was no audit trail or other documentation demonstrating a proper approach
22.16R (B) v Worcestershire CC [2009] EWHC 2915 (Admin), (2010) 13 CCLR 13 The closure decision was based on irrational premises
22.17AH v Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust [2011] EWHC 276 (COP), (2011) 14 CCLR 301 It was not in the best interests of a severely learning disabled man to be moved from an NHS facility where he had lived for many years to a flat in London
22.18R (RO) v East Riding of Yorkshire Council [2011] EWCA Civ 196, (2011) 14 CCLR 256 A placement at a specialist residential school may be under section 20 of the Children Act 1989 rather than under the Education Act 1996
22.19The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v ZH [2013] EWCA Civ 69, (2013) 16 CCLR 109 There had been a serious assault and breach of ECHR when the police restrained a young autistic adult with taking special care
22.20R (MM) v Hounslow LBC [2015] EWHC 3731 (Admin), (2016) 19 CCLR 141 The assessment of a teenager with autism had been lawful and the local authority had been entitled to await the outcome of the judicial review before preparing a care plan