A Local Authority v MF & Ors [2022] EWCOP 54

Best interests judgment concerning the residence of M, a 40 year old man who lacks capacity, where the family strongly opposes him living away from the family home.

M’s family had a long history of failing to engage with social services stretching back to M’s teenage years at least culminating in 2016 when he was found in distressing circumstances after his father died suddenly at home. M was taken to hospital and then placed in a home, PH. Between 2016 and 2019 he made good progress at PH but then became less happy there and did not return from a family visit in 2020. In Cohen J’s eyes this event was engineered by a Dr A, M’s sister's partner, who became involved in 2019 and was opposed to the LA’s actions and the OS representative. Despite earlier enforcement notices, the family continued to be uncooperative.

In this judgment, after setting out the chronology, Cohen J finds that M lacks capacity in all respects. He then considers M’s best interests stating at [80] that “the view of the social work team, which I share, is that M is someone with real, unrealised, potential “ with musical and artistic talents that he would like to pursue. The LA proposed that he should move to a new placement at EL, a small unit close to the family home, and giving weight to M’s wishes, he concludes that he should move to the home especially as the OS changed their view to agree “there was simply no workable way of M reaching his potential and improving his abilities if he remained at home.”

Read the judgment on the National Archive