News

A woman has launched a test case at the high court to allow her to use direct payments from a local authority to pay her husband to care for her.

Gillian Ely, who has multiple sclerosis, claims that Leeds council’s refusal to allow her to use the payments to pay her husband is a violation of her human rights.

But the council’s barrister, Nicholas O’Brien, said the local authority was bound by the Community Care (Direct Payments) Regulations 1997, which forbid direct payments being authorised to secure services from a person’s partner or close relative.

A government consultation on the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996, which closed at the end of last year, also states that the regulations prevent people using direct payments for their partner or close relatives living in the same household.

However, Mr Justice Toulson granted leave for a full judicial review hearing of the decision. If successful, other people who have been refused direct payments on similar grounds could also challenge local authority decisions.