Liverpool City Council, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Hillingdon & Anor

Judgment

Lord Justice Dyson:

The principal issue that arises on this appeal is whether the London Borough of Hillingdon (“LBH”) discharged its duty under section 20(1) of the Children Act 1989 (“the CA”) in relation to the provision of accommodation for AK. It contends that it did and that, AK now being a child in need in the area of Liverpool City Council (“Liverpool”), the duty under section 20(1) of the CA lies on Liverpool. We are told that disputes between local authorities of the kind that have arisen in the present case are not uncommon. So far as is material, the deputy judge held that (i) LBH did discharge its duty under section 20(1), and (ii), even if it did not discharge its duty and remained responsible for the provision of accommodation for AK, Liverpool was also responsible for the provision of accommodation for AK .

The facts

AK is a national of Pakistan. On 7 April 2008, he arrived in the United Kingdom illegally and with a false passport. He claimed asylum in Liverpool on 9 April. On the same day, Liverpool carried out an age assessment of him in order to ascertain whether he was a child. He said that he was 15 years of age, having been born on 4 April 1993. On 9 April 2008, Liverpool assessed him as an adult with a date of birth of 4 April 1990. On the basis of that assessment and after a screening interview on 14 April with its Asylum Screening Unit, Liverpool referred him to the Home Office Agencies, the National Asylum Support Service (“NASS”) and the Border and Immigration Agency.

AK was accommodated by NASS in the Liverpool area. He was then moved to Campsfield Detention Centre in Oxfordshire and from there to the Harmondsworth Detention Centre, which is in the area of LBH. He was interviewed at Harmondsworth on 25 April. Although both these centres are for adults, AK continued to maintain that he was a child.

His asylum claim was dismissed on 28 April and he appealed. An important issue in the appeal was whether AK was a child, because the fast track procedure in the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal cannot be applied to a child. AK’s solicitors obtained a report from a Dr Birch dated 6 May which assessed him as being 15 years of age. Immigration Judge Kebode accepted the opinion of Dr Birch and transferred the case out of the fast track. Nevertheless, AK’s appeal was dismissed by the immigration judge by a determination promulgated on 14 May.

Meanwhile, a dispute had arisen between LBH and Liverpool as to which authority had