• CIVIL

England and Wales Court of Appeals (Civil Division)

R (TF(Patient)) v Secretary of State for Justice

Whether issuance of a warrant transferring a convicted person to hospital at the very end of his sentence is valid: Mental Health Act 1983, s 47

In this case, the Secretary of State issued warrant removing the Claimant-convicted person to hospital on the last day of his sentence. The prisoner with dissociated personality order was serving sentence for robbery. Whether such a warrant was lawfully obtained? Held, where the Secretary of State made a decision to issue a warrant directing transfer of a prisoner to a hospital under s 47 of the 1983 Act he had to be satisfied by reports from two medical practitioners of matters in s 47(1)(a) and (b). A decision to direct a transfer could not simply be taken on the grounds that a convicted person would be a danger to the public if released, but could only be taken on the grounds that his medical condition and its treatability justified the decision.

• Employment Laws

England and Wales Court of Appeals (Civil Division)

Barry v Southwark London Borough Council

Whether period of casual employment in relevant period before accident is to be considered by Local Authority for determination of Housing Assistance eligibility: Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (England) Regulations 2006, Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, reg 6(2)(b)(ii).

The Court of Appeals held that in determining whether a person claiming housing assistance had been unemployed for no more than six months and was a "worker" for the purposes of the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility)(England) Regulations 2006 and within reg 6(2)(b)(ii) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, the housing authority was entitled to look at the claimant's previous employment work where to do so was necessary to tell whether the work was effective and genuine, and not marginal and ancillary. The Court ruled so, allowing the appeal of the claimant to grant him housing assistance. The defendant's review officer had determined that the claimant, a citizen of the Netherlands, was not eligible for housing assistance under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 on the ground he was not a "worker" for the purposes of Community law. The claimant had been unemployed and, whilst in receipt of jobseeker's allowance, had taken casual work as a steward during the course of which he suffered a serious accident, as a result of which he was unable to work. His entitlement to the benefit of the local housing authority's duties under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 depended on whether he was a worker for the purposes of the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility)(England) Regulations 2006.