Ordinary residence and adult NRPF cases

There has still been surprisingly little litigation about the Care Act 2014.  One issue that may well come up relates to ordinary residence for adults who have no recourse to public funds, and who have been accommodated on the basis that they have community care needs.  

Many authorities have resorted to securing accommodation outside of their own district. Under National Assistance Act 1948 the deemed residence rule in section 24(5) would often apply, at least where any personal care was to be provided not by the authority but by a family member.  This meant that responsibility for ongoing assessment and for funding the placement remained with the placing authority. But the deeming provisions set out in section 39 of in the 2014 Act and in the Care and Support (Ordinary Residence) (Specified Accommodation) Regulations 2014 are more specific. In short:

• For new cases, it may well be that one of the new deeming provisions applies – see e.g. article 5 of the Order which covers “supported living" accommodation below.
• But in transition cases, i.e. persons who were already in receipt of services under the 1948 Act, they will only continue to be deemed resident in their placing district if they are in a care home: article 6 of the Care Act 2014 (Transitional Provision) Order 2015.

The 2014 Act has been applied to all cases since April 2016.  This means anyone who was originally placed out of district under the 1948 Act may well find they become embroiled in a funding dispute.  It would be interesting to know of any cases ...