Community Care
Our team offers advice on all asylum, adult social services and community care issues. It’s drawn from our lengthy experience and deep understanding of these complex areas of the law.
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Community care law is often challenging and it’s vital that you have the support of legal experts who know the processes as well as they know the law itself.
Our Community Care Group, led by Head of Group Kerry Short, has exactly that expertise and will work hand-in-hand with you to help you achieve the best outcome.
Our innate understanding of local authorities allows us to seamlessly become an extension of your team and provide support where it counts to those on the front line.
Meet the team
Areas of expertise
- Mental Capacity
- Deprivation of liberty
- Mental health
- Ordinary residence
- Community care
- Coroners' Inquests
- Adult safeguarding
- Asylum
Our specialisms
- Court of Protection: welfare and financial applications, from uncontested applications for the appointment of a financial deputy to complex disputed welfare decisions involving multiple parties
- Mental capacity assessments: and best interests decisions under the Mental Capacity Act 2005
- Deprivation of liberty cases: defending s21A challenges to DOLS authorisations in a care home or hospital setting and applying to the Court of Protection for authorisation under the Re X procedure to deprive a person of their liberty in a community setting
- Mental Health Act 1983: working closely with Approved Mental Health Professionals on various matters, including detention for assessment or treatment, removal to a place of safety, guardianship, after care, and applications to the county court to displace and appoint a nearest relative
- Ordinary residence disputes: correspondence with other authorities, submissions to the Secretary of State for a determination and negotiating reimbursement from one local authority to another
- Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC): defending challenges to age assessments and care provision
- Inquests: providing written and oral evidence to the Coroner
- Judicial Review: pre-action correspondence and in proceedings
- General community care: including financial assessments, care home fees, housing duties owed by local councils, people with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), leaving care, transition and adult safeguarding
Kerry Short
Head of Community Care
I support busy and hard-working social care professionals by helping them to understand the law and comply with their duties to ensure that their good practice is backed up by legal compliance.
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Carmel Maher
Senior Solicitor
Carmel is passionate about providing expert legal support in emotive cases to local authorities who support UASC
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Erica Ffrench
Principal Solicitor
Erica uses her wealth of adult social welfare expertise to provide indispensable legal advice to clients.
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Tricia Lawlor
Senior Legal Assistant
Tricia understands the important of identifying issues from the outset and addressing them early on to save clients time, money and further legal problems later down the line.
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Maria Martin
Senior Legal Assistant
Maria is passionate about providing support to clients and the Community Care group.
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Laura Wares
Solicitor
Laura uses her years of expertise to provide sound advice to key clients.
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Harry Johnston-Sluka
Solicitor
Harry is commended by clients for his helpful and responsive approach to legal advice.
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Kirstine Hidalgo Souto
Deputy Head of Child Protection
Kirstine uses her years of expertise in Child Protection law to distil complex cases, providing support to clients.
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“I am writing in praise of your support. As someone in the firing line of an ultra-aggressive legal team for the first time in my life, this was a traumatic and, at times, upsetting process. You were at my side, dispensing wise and calming counsel throughout. You have been readily available when crises occurred, have been a wonderful listener and, in the end, we reached an outcome that was highly satisfactory for our school and its pupils. I cannot speak highly enough of the way that you handled this case, and I thank you and your firm for the support you gave me. Being a chair of governors, sworn to confidentiality, can be a lonely business! You kept me sane.”
Chair of School Governors
“You’ve been incredibly helpful with this. Thanks for always replying so promptly and for being a star.”
Private Sector Town Planning & Development Consultancy
“The experience has been really top end. Rather than just offering the options, they have given some real solid advice on the best route. It's a good business 'partnering' approach.”
Kent Fire and Rescue Service
“Their employment advice has always proved to be sound. I’ve worked with lots of different lawyers in London boroughs and. I’d also say that Invicta Law is the most solution-focused.”
Kent Fire and Rescue Service
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