INTERESTING CARE STANDARDS TRIBUNAL DECISIONS

The Care Standards Tribunal was set up under the Care Standards Act 2000 and sits to hear regulatory actions involving care homes, care workers, domiciliary care agencies and all others regulated under that legislation.

The Tribunal consists of three members plus a clerk and is chaired by a lawyer (often a retired Judge or senior barrister) flanked by two experts. The experts are selected having regard to the type of case to be heard and are drawn from a variety of sources.

The tribunals generally sit in the geographical area where the service is carried on.

Generally speaking the Tribunal’s decision is final but there are two other possibilities. First the Tribunal can be asked to “review” its decision if either party believes a mistake has been made. Otherwise the only way forward is an appeal to the High Court but only where it can be alleged a point of law arises in the decision. These are rare but we have been involved in such challenges arising under the predecessor legislation The Registered Homes Act and those cases helped shape the Law of Care that we have today.

Although not legally binding, the Tribunal decisions tend to be followed by the Chairmen and are frequently quoted in their decisions. We list below some of the more interesting Care Standards Tribunal decisions with links to the full text of each: