The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s refusal to grant Good Law Project permission to bring a judicial review of the rights and safety of children in care homes.

Last summer, we launched a case to protect vulnerable children from being taken into care homes far from their friends and support networks, and rehomed in areas alien to them.

This is only supposed to be done as a last resort, but local authorities are increasingly relying on out-of-area accommodation. In 2020, more than 30,000 children were forced to upend their lives and move from the communities they call home. 

The evidence clearly shows that housing children in distant locations places them at greater risk of abuse and exploitation. So we launched legal action against five of the worst-offending local authorities - Essex, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex, Surrey and Derby City - to compel them to do more for the children in their care. And against the education secretary for failing to act on behalf of these vulnerable children. 

We settled the case against Surrey when it agreed to take meaningful steps to improve its provision.

However, the High Court refused to hear the challenge against the four other local authorities. And we have now heard that the Court of Appeal has upheld that decision. 

We remain committed to pursuing other suitable legal challenges to ensure vulnerable children are protected and authorities meet their obligations. 

Thank you for supporting this action. 

Last month, the High Court ruled that our judicial review challenge to out-of-area placements for children in care should not proceed. We think that decision was flawed, and we believe this crucial claim should be considered in full by the Court. 

So, we have asked the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Court's refusal and order that the judicial review should proceed to a full hearing. The Court of Appeal could make that decision with or without a hearing. 

We will post a further update as soon as we know more. The crowdfunding page will remain closed in the meantime, but we are grateful for your ongoing support.

Today, we asked the High Court to reconsider its decision not to allow our judicial review challenge to out-of-area placements for children in care to proceed. We are sorry to have to tell you that the refusal has been upheld.

Local authorities have a legal duty to provide accommodation locally for children in their care. We brought this claim against five local authorities who we thought were failing to meet that duty, and against the Secretary of State for Education for failing to make them. 

Permission was initially refused based on what all parties now agree was a misunderstanding of the relevant duty by the Judge.

But today a new Judge has ruled that, for different reasons, the claim should not proceed. He found that the Court can’t interfere unless a local authority’s actions meet the high threshold of being actions that no reasonable local authority could take, and here they did not. 

We are discussing with our lawyers whether to appeal the decision, but have closed the crowdfunding page in the meantime.

The Court found that Good Law Project would probably have had standing to bring the claim. It rejected the Secretary of State’s contention that the Runnymede case means we will never have standing. 

Last week, we pointed out that one local authority, Surrey, had taken seriously the failings highlighted by our claim and was taking steps to redress them. In the circumstances we had discontinued our claim against Surrey. All of the other authorities have, since we issued proceedings, taken some, albeit we continue to consider inadequate, steps to show that they are grappling with their policy failures.

We will continue to fight to protect the interests of looked after children. 

Last summer, we launched this case to protect the rights and safety of children in care - some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. In 2020, more than 30,000 children were placed in accommodation far away from their local area. 

Councils do this for a variety of reasons, often because it’s cheaper. But it can have devastating consequences for the children who are moved. Their social workers visit them less, and they become cut off from the places they know, at a time when their lives are already turbulent and uncertain. The evidence is clear that it places them at increased risk of sexual or criminal exploitation.

Councils have a duty to do everything they can to ensure children in care are accommodated within their local area. Out of area placements are supposed to be a last resort. But increasingly, they’re not.

Our case targeted the Department of Education and five of the worst offending councils: Essex, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex, Surrey and Derby City. Surrey has now decided to take concrete steps - set out in its new Sufficiency Plan published in January - to improve its provisions for looked after children, primarily through creating more in-house accommodation. It now has plans to invest “£37 million in developing new in-area residential accommodation, including the development of up to 20 to 30 new in-house residential beds", as well as “the block-booking of up to 80 supported accommodation beds in-area, some of which will be available for older looked after children”, and increasing its network of foster carers. 

This is fantastic news. It shows strategic legal challenges can make a difference to people’s lives. In the circumstances, we have agreed to discontinue our claim against Surrey Council, with no order as to costs. We hope that Essex, Cambridgeshire, West Sussex and Derby City do the right thing and follow suit but, until they do, we intend to continue with our action.

On Tuesday 29 March, the Court will hear the oral renewal of our application for permission to bring judicial review proceedings. We will update you after the hearing.

Back in July, we launched this legal challenge against five county councils and the former Education Secretary to put a stop to the increasingly common practice of housing vulnerable children far away from everything they know in for-profit care homes. 

Accommodating children out of area takes them away from their communities, friends and support networks; upending their lives, worsening the traumas they’ve already experienced and placing them in greater danger of abuse and exploitation.

But a High Court judge chose to interpret the current law surrounding this issue in a way that we consider is far too narrow, and refused permission for our judicial review.

So, we are now calling for their decision to be reconsidered.  

We think the councils are in breach of their legal duties to ensure that, as far as is reasonably practicable, children in care are given accommodation within their local area, and to ensure there’s enough accommodation in their area for that to happen.

After we launched proceedings, many of the councils accepted that there were issues and started trying to address them. Surrey, for example, recently began the ‘Coming Home’ project to “increase the sufficiency of provision in Surrey for children and young people who are looked after and/or have SEND [special educational needs and disabilities]".

We are pleased to see that attitudes are starting to change, but county councils and the Government can and must do more to protect vulnerable children in their care. We think it’s right for the High Court to rule on it.

Tearing children away from their support networks must be the exception, never the rule. We’re going to carry on fighting for these children with everything we’ve got. 

If you are able to help us continue this important work, please consider supporting this appeal. 

You can read the High Court’s ruling here and our renewal application here.