Disabled people win legal victory
20 December 2007
 The High Court has ruled that a local council has acted illegally by deciding to restrict services for people with physical and learning disabilities. The London Borough of Harrow had announced it would tighten up its adult social care eligibility criteria, meaning that only people whose needs were deemed 'critical' would have a right to services.However, Judge David Mackie QC said the council had not properly considered "the seriousness and extent of the duties which it owed under the 2005 Disability Discrimination Act".Although the Judge only based his ruling on three test cases, as many as 500 people with physical and learning disabilities had been affected by Harrow council's decision.Mencap state that nearly three quarters of councils are trying to cut social care services support and the legal ruling could affect their plans.The Learning Disability Coalition said after the judgment: "All councils will now have to consider proactively the needs of people with a learning disability when deciding whether to restrict access to social care services."Limiting the provision of social care to those who have critical needs is putting very vulnerable people with severe needs at risk."The coalition said the cases would set an important precedent.  © Adfero Ltd
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