High court orders assessment for man
Posted: 22 January 2004 | Subscribe Online
Islington Council is to offer an asylum seeker a community care
assessment after the High Court criticised its handling of his
case.
The man arrived with his family from Kosovo in 2001 "deeply
affected" by the killing of his son by Serbian troops. He became
depressed and would not get out of bed, clean himself or take his
medication.
A judge rejected the family's challenge to the council's decision
that the man, known as P, was not suffering from a "severe and
enduring mental illness". But he said the council had made an
"error of law" by treating this as decisive when considering P's
entitlement to support.
He accepted the family's arguments that the council had never
carried out a proper community care assessment of P's needs, and
called for one to be done.
