Day care centre closed unlawfully, court rules

A council failed to properly consider the needs of elderly disabled people when it closed a day care centre, a judge has ruled.

Lady Carmichael said Scottish Borders Council did not contemplate the impact that closing the centre in Hawick would have on a woman with Alzheimer's.

The judge ruled the local authority didn't follow equality legislation when it made its "unlawful" move.

Scottish Borders Council has been ordered to reconsider its decision.

BBC Scotland has approached the council for comment.

The Court of Session had been asked to make a ruling in a judicial review brought by the woman's son, a man who has only been named as AB.

He is also guardian to his mum, who is named as CD.

Covid pandemic

His lawyers went to court after the council decided to "decommission" the Teviot Day Centre in Hawick after a meeting in June 2019.

The centre stopped operating in March 2020 at the start of the Covid pandemic and it hasn't re-opened.

AB's legal team claimed during proceedings earlier this year that the council failed to conduct an equality impact assessment and had not properly consulted service users.

The council's lawyers told Lady Carmichael that it called a meeting in March 2019 during which a staff member explained to people the local authority's vision for future care.

'Unlawful decision'

Lady Carmichael was told the meeting was a proper consultation and that the council fully considered the views of service users.

However, lawyers for AB claimed that people at the meeting weren't told that care centres might be closed and that this resulted in the council not properly consulting people.

In a written judgement, Lady Carmichael agreed with the submissions made by AB's lawyers.

She wrote: "There is no indication that the council considered with rigour the possibility that the service might remain open, or that keeping it open might be necessary to meet the needs of persons with disabilities similar to those of CD.

"I am satisfied that it did not have due regard to those matters, and that its decision is unlawful.

"The meeting was held at short notice. The notice of the meeting did not let those with an interest know, in clear terms, that the proposal was to close the service. "

Care home

The judgment tells of how CD used the day care service three days a week and had a "good relationship" with staff there.

However, he now lives in a care centre.

Lady Carmichael wrote that the Equality Act 2010 places an obligation on local authorities properly assess the needs of people like CD.

She concluded the assessment carried out by the council didn't meet these requirements.

The judge ordered Scottish Borders Council to reconsider its decision with a "fresh decision-making process".

A spokesman for Scottish Borders Council said: "The impact of the judgement is that there is therefore now no legal decision in place to close the centre.

"The council fully accepts the judgement of the court and a report will now be brought forward to council setting out the recommended course of action."