High Court quashes unlawful social care funding decision

The High Court has handed down its judgment in R (CGT) v West Sussex County Council [2026] EWHC 293 (Admin) quashing a local authority’s unlawful decision that a claimant was not eligible for social care funding under the Care Act 2014 because of the value of his personal injury trust.

The deputy for CGT – a vulnerable adult without capacity to make relevant decisions for himself – had applied in 2017 for the local authority to carry out an adult social care assessment under the 2014 Act. The local authority declined to do so on the basis that CGT was the beneficiary of a personal injury trust settled on him following an award by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

Despite accepting that the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 provided that the capital value of a personal injury trust should be disregarded for means assessment purposes, the local authority sought to argue that the Regulations should be interpreted so as to allow it to take into account the portion of the award allocated in respect of future care because to do otherwise would amount to double recovery by CGT (i.e., as against the local authority and the CICA).

The High Court rejected that argument. The wording of the Regulations was clear, unambiguous and unqualified. The fact that an individual with a personal injury trust might seek to access public funding under the 2014 Act prior to their award being fully depleted had been identified in successive High Court and Court of Appeal cases but Parliament had not decided to amend the Regulations to prevent this. The High Court also rejected the local authority’s argument that it should not exercise its discretion to grant relief in the facts and circumstances of the case.

The judgment is significant for local authorities, potential applicants for social care funding and for those advising defendants in personal injury claims because it confirms that the courts will not intervene to prevent double recovery at the request of a local authority after the personal injury proceedings leading to the original award have concluded.

Katharine Elliot acted as sole counsel for the successful Claimant.