R v Powys County Council, ex parte Hambidge (No 2)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 2000 |
| Year | 2000 |
| Date | 2000 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Local authority – Provision of community care services for disabled person – Local authority’s charges based on whether service users in receipt of solely income support or income support and disability living allowance – Those in receipt of income support alone receiving free home care – Whether increase in charges to those in receipt of income support and disability living allowance amounting to discrimination on basis of disability.
The appellant, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and lived alone, received a disability living allowance of £49.50 per week, and income support. The respondent local authority provided the appellant with 16 hours of home care a week. In earlier proceedings brought by the appellant the Court of Appeal held that the local authority were entitled to charge for the provision of those services. Under the local authority’s charging structure service users were divided into three groups: Bands A-C. Band A covered those who were only in receipt of income support and they were charged nothing for home care: Band B, which the appellant fell into, covered those in receipt of income support and attendance allowance or disability living allowance which was specifically paid to enable the recipients to obtain or purchase care in light of their disabilities, and were charged £10.50 per week; and Band C were those service users not in receipt of income support whether or not they were paid either of the other two benefits, and they were charged £26.25. However, in December 1997 the local authority decided to increase the amount paid by service users in Band B to £32.70 a week. The appellant applied for, and was denied, judicial review of that decision. The appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal contending that those increased charges were a violation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as she was charged more than those in Band A because she had more money: but the reason she received more money was and was only because she received disability living allowance; and that accordingly she was discriminated against for a reason relating to her disability within the meaning of s 20(1)(a) .
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a See [1998] 3 FCR 190
b Section 20 of the 1995 Act, so far as material, is set out at p 73f–73g, post
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Held – The charging regime used by the local authority in the instant case was based on the possession or otherwise of resources by the service users in Bands A–C. It was simply a form of means testing; and there was no causual link between the rate charged to persons in Band B and their disability. The local
authority were indifferent to the service user’s receipt of disability allowance as such: they were only concerned with the level of resources in the hands of those in receipt of care whether or not the presence of disability lay behind the receipt of cash in any particular case. The disability was categorically not the reason for the differential charges and it followed that the appeal would be dismissed.
Cases referred to in judgmentsAssociated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corp [1948] 1 KB 223, [1947] 2 All ER 680.
Clark v Novacold Ltd [1999] ICR 951.
AppealThe appellant appealed with leave from the decision of Jowitt J on 28 April 1999 dismissing her application for judicial review of a determination by Powys County Council to increase their charges for home care supplied by them to her and others. The facts are set out in the judgment of Laws LJ.
Richard Gordon QC and Stephen Cragg (instructed by Thorpes) for the appellant.
Clive Lewis (instructed by the Legal Department of Powys County Council) for the respondent.
1. LAWS LJ(giving the first judgment at the invitation of Henry LJ). This is an appeal brought with permission granted by the judge at first instance against a decision of Jowitt J made on 28 April 1999 when he dismissed the appellant’s application for judicial review of a...
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