R (Afework) v London Borough of Camden [2013] EWHC 1637 (Admin)
MHLR
The summary below has been supplied by Kris Gledhill, Editor of the Mental Health Law Reports. The full report can be purchased from Southside Online Publishing (if there is a "file not found" error, it means this particular report is not yet available online). More similar case summaries from the year 2014 are available here: MHLR 2014.
Whether accommodation was provided under s117 Mental Health Act 1983 or s21 National Assistance Act 1948; whether judicial review should be refused as a matter of discretion - R (Tewodros Afework) v LB Camden – [2014] MHLR 32
Points Arising: Services were only “after-care” under s117 Mental Health Act 1983 if they were provided as the direct result of the reason for detention under the Act; ordinary accommodation could not meet this test, which required enhanced accommodation that was a substitute for or extension of the hospital environment.
Facts and Outcome: TA had schizophrenia, leading to admissions under the Mental Health Act 1983 in the 1990s, following which he was placed in accommodation and then provided with tenancies. Then, following a serious assault involving brain injuries, he moved into specialist accommodation. After he received a payment under the Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme, the question arose as to whether the accommodation was provided under s117 of the 1983 Act, for which no charge could be made. The High Court determined that TA’s accommodation prior to the assault, being ordinary accommodation, had not been provided under s117; and that the accommodation since the assault had arisen from the brain injury rather than the mental disorder. Permission to seek judicial review was refused.