A judgment recently handed down in the High Court, R (on the application of J) v Worcester City Council (2013) EWHC 3845 (Admin), has found that local authorities have a power, under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, to provide services to a child in need where that child travels outside the local authority's area. The case has particular application to children in need who are in itinerant and Traveller families.
What are the facts of the case?
The case was a judicial review of a local authority's decision not to provide services to a child while the child was outside the local authority area. The claimant was a three-year-old child from a family of Romany Gypsy ethnicity. The child and his family were based at a dwelling in Malvern, Worcestershire, where they routinely spent the winter months. They spent the rest of the year travelling to work at carnivals and fairs across England and Wales.
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