ABSTRACT
This chapter calls for a focus on the responsive state and explores the ways in which the state and its institutions (including the courts) respond or, conversely, fail to respond in the context of adult social care. It seeks to specifically consider the way in which accountability for adult social care decisions can be facilitated at present. The chapter argues that despite the valuable rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights and their potential utility in the context of adult social care, the way in which access to these is structured, and in particular the way in which courts have responded through judicial review, prevents very real barriers to enjoyment of these. After outlining the disadvantage and disempowerment that is increasingly facing older people in society, it reviews the case law and jurisprudence surrounding judicial review of decisions as to care packages.
