16 June 2011
Hillingdon London Borough Council v Neary and others [2011] EWHC 1377 (COP), [2011] All ER (D) 57 (Jun)
It was established law that there was a positive obligation to respect the right to family life in the area of adult care. The starting point should be the normal assumption that mentally incapacitated adults would be better off if they lived with a family rather than in an institution. If the state was to justify removing vulnerable adults from their relatives, partners, friends or carers it could only be on the basis that the state was going to provide a better quality of care than they had hitherto been receiving.
