A High Court ruling last week on manual lifting by care workers could have a significant impact on the care of older people and disabled people.

Mr Justice Munby ruled that East Sussex Council had been wrong to introduce a blanket ban on care staff manually lifting any older or disabled people.

His decision follows the case of two severely disabled women who asked the local authority for care workers to manually lift them but were refused.

Justice Munby recommended that councils follow the Health and Safety Executive guidance on lifting and not rely too much on the Royal College of Nursing guidance, which says lifting should only happen in "exceptional or life threatening situations".

Disability Rights Commission chairperson Bert Massie said the ruling was a "clear victory" for disabled people. He added: "We urge all local authorities to stop such practices and use Health and Safety guidance that put disabled people's needs back at the heart of the care system."

The DRC stressed it was important care workers did not put themselves at risk of injury, but that this need must be balanced against disabled people's independence and quality of life.

"It is crucial that care workers are able to provide the appropriate care people with disabilities need and this includes lifting," a spokesperson said.

Unison national officer for home care Fiona Westwood warned against employers forcing care workers to move or lift a person in circumstances that could place them and the service user in danger or at risk of harm. "The challenge is balancing out the rights of the service user against those of the care worker," she said.

Westwood added that the situation could only be solved "through dialogue at local level" about the needs of service users and staff and not by legislation.

RCN occupational health adviser Carol Bannister said the RCN guidance did not support "no lifting" policies. She said: "It is important that disabled people are cared for appropriately and are not in pain or discomfort from being lifted."

Bannister agreed the care people received should be negotiated on an individual level and said a risk assessment should be undertaken to ensure health care staff were not harmed by the manual lifting of patients.