Court Report: Councils' financial dispute is resolved

A child (DD) was born in 1998 and lived with his mother shortly after his parents separated. The mother had mental health problems and in June 2007 DD was taken into the care of the local authority (Kingston upon Thames). DD initially lived with temporary foster carers and then moved in with his paternal grandmother, who lived in Lancashire.

In December 2007, an interim residence order was made in favour of the grandmother and in due course a special guardianship order was made.

A financial dispute arose as to which local authority was responsible for providing financial support for the period between the making of the residence order and the special guardianship order, and which local authority should be responsible for providing services under the special guardianship provisions for the future.

Justice Black discussed the "very challenging" provisions of sections 20 to 23 of the Children Act 1989, and concluded that:

(1) DD ceased to be a looked-after child upon the making of the residence order;

(2) Therefore Kingston upon Thames should pay a residence order allowance for the period between the residence order and the special guardianship order; and

(3) Lancashire County Council should be the authority to which the grandmother will look to for future support in relation to the special guardianship order.

Read more on the judgement

OTHER RECENT DECISIONS

Case name: P (R, on the application of) v London Borough of Croydon
Case number: [2009] EWHC 1993 (Admin)

Case name: Re N; A v G and N
Case number: [2009] EWHC 2096 (Fam)