London Borough of Lewisham (20 006 910) [2021] MHLO 5

Section 117 and Housing Benefit The council, CCG and trust initially reneged on a promise to update their s117 policy, but eventually changed it to state: "If accommodation is included as part of after-care, it should not be charged for, nor should person be told to claim Housing Benefit. Service and utility charges should be deemed part of the s117 accommodation." Ombudsman's summary: "The Ombudsmen investigated and upheld an earlier complaint about charging for accommodation which should have been free under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983. We have now investigated a complaint about the [London Borough of Lewisham], [South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust] and [NHS South East London CCG] failing to carry out actions agreed during the earlier investigation. We have upheld the complaint. We have also found that an estimated 57 other patients may not have up-to-date section 117 aftercare plans. The organisations accept our recommendations, so we have completed our investigation."

External links

The LGSCO website has the same decision on three different pages, relating to the three different bodies:

• London Borough of Lewisham (20 006 910)
• South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (20 006 910a)
• NHS South East London Clinical Commissioning Group (20 006 910b)

CASES DATABASE

Full judgment: No Bailii link (neutral citation is unknown or not applicable)

Subject(s):

• LGO decisions🔍
• After-care🔍

Date: 13/4/21🔍

Court: Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman🔍

Parties:

• NHS South East London CCG🔍
• London Borough of Lewisham🔍
• South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust🔍

Citation number(s):

What links here:

• Cases per year
• Jonathan Wilson, 'Mental health case law: update' (Legal Action, May 2022)

Published: 25/10/21 20:27

Cached: 2024-04-26 05:29:40