The law and the costs of care

The Sefton case, now ensures the applicant’s need to be assessed according to the provider’s resources and costs. Fortunately for the local authority concerned this decision came after the House of Lords definitive judgement on costs in the Barry case (see R v Gloucestershire CC, ex p Barry [1997] 2 All ER 1, HL). In this three to two decision, with Lloyd and Steyn LJ dissenting, their Lordships held that in deciding how much weight was to be attached to the cost of providing care, the authority had to make an evaluation about the impact that cost would bear on its own resources.