The Case Management PilotPersonal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:Case Management PilotApplications in health and welfare casesPersonal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:Case Management PilotApplications in health and welfare casesPersonal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:Case Management PilotApplications in health and welfare casesPersonal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:Case Management PilotApplications in health and welfare casesPersonal welfare pathway:pre-issue stagePersonal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:personal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:Case Management PilotApplications in health and welfare casesPersonal welfare pathway:pre-issue stagePersonal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:personal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:Case Management PilotApplications in health and welfare casesPersonal welfare pathway:pre-issue stagePersonal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:personal welfare pathwayApplications in health and welfare cases:Case Management PilotApplications in health and welfare cases
9.8The Case Management Pilot (‘the Pilot’)
1See: Case Management Pilot PD. The Pilot was made under the authority of COPR r9A, which permits the modification of the court’s practice and procedure for the purpose of pilot schemes. has significantly modified the requirements on litigants. It represents an attempt to standardise the progress of contested cases in the Court of Protection, and has many features in common with the Public Law Outline in care proceedings. It is outlined in chapter 4. It provides that health and welfare applications are allocated to a dedicated personal welfare pathway with limited exceptions, namely (for these purposes): uncontested applications; applications relating to serious medical treatment
2Considered in chapter 22. applications using form COPDOL10 (so-called
Re X applications);
3see paras 21.56 onwards. and applications using form DLA (applications under MCA 2005 s21A).
4see paras 21.19 onwards. As set out at paras 4.101–4.103, the broader requirement of the Pilot may also apply to such cases even If they fall outside the scope of the personal welfare pathway.
9.9The personal welfare pathway has four stages: pre-issue, the point of issue; case management on issue; the case management conference; the final management hearing and the final hearing. There are requirements at each stage: this chapter concerns the pre-issue and issue stages; case management thereafter is dealt with in chapter 10 and the final hearing in chapter 15.
9.10The pre-issue stage puts an explicit obligation on the applicant in non-urgent cases to identify and engage with potential respondents and set out proposals for resolving the issue outside the court arena. We will consider the requirements in more detail as we discuss the process of making and responding to an application. Because almost all welfare cases fall within the scope of the Pilot, this chapter uses the Pilot Rules and rule numbering.
9.11It is important for both potential applicants and potential respondents to be aware that the the court will take into account in deciding whether or not to depart from the general rule as to costs (ie in welfare proceedings, that each party bears their own) the conduct of the parties
before as well as during the proceedings.
5COPR r159(2)(a). This rule has been on the statute books for some time, but it is likely that greater attention will be paid to it given the express introduction of a pre-issue stage in welfare applications, to which we now turn.
The personal welfare pathway: the pre-issue stage
9.12The Case Management Pilot PD requires the applicant to ‘take all necessary steps’
6Case Management Pilot PD para 4.2.1. to identify all potential respondents and interested parties
7This not a category of person defined in the COPR, so it must be given a common sense interpretation. and inform them and (if possible) P of the applicant’s intention to start proceedings unless the matters which the court may be asked to determine can be resolved. The applicant must set out the nature of the proceedings that the applicant intends to commence and the issues concerned. Importantly the applicant must set out proposals for resolving the issues and engage with the potential respondents in order to do so. Thus the focus is on narrowing the issues from an early stage and aiming to resolve as much as possible without litigation.
9.13Applicants may find it useful to send a pre-issue letter, and a suggested example appears at appendix D. The tone of any such letter should reflect the priority attached to the resolution of issues without litigation. Equally, potential respondents receiving such communication from applicants should ensure that they engage with the pre-issue stage, in keeping with their own duties.
9.14An urgent application should only be made once the applicant has given thought to the consequences if the case is not treated as urgent; the consequences of not carrying out pre-issue steps; whether there is a specific deadline and if so what that deadline is.
8Case Management Pilot PD para 4.2.2. An applicant who then goes ahead without complying with the pre-issue requirements will have to explain any omissions on issue.
9Case Management Pilot PD para 4.3.2; also paras 9.22 onwards.