The High Court has ruled that the Home Office breached its duty to provide adequate asylum accommodation to a mother and her severely disabled child following a successful judicial review initiated by CCLC.
The claim was brought by an asylum seeker and her severely disabled 5-year-old child. The child experiences frequent seizures and requires close supervision and full adult support for daily life activities. The claimants live in a hotel room provided by the Home Office and went to court to challenge the inadequacy of that accommodation.
The Home Office acknowledged that the accommodation was inadequate but argued that it was “impossible” to comply with the mandatory order sought by the family.
However, the Court stated that it had been ‘left in no doubt’ about the need to grant a mandatory order and that the Home Office had failed to establish impossibility. It pointed to a pattern of other systemic failings and mandated the Home Office to find suitable accommodation by 24 February 2025.
Rosalyn Akar Grams, Managing Director of Legal Practice and Children’s Rights, said:
The suitability of asylum support accommodation for vulnerable children, young people and families has been a concern of CCLC for many years. Our client and her son have endured inadequate accommodation for years and we are delighted by the outcome for them. However, the case has wider implications as the Court noted this was neither ‘an isolated incident’ nor ‘an outlier’ but indicative of wider failures. We hope the Home Office will act promptly on the mandatory order and take steps to address these systemic issues.
The claimants were represented in court by Garden Court Chambers, instructed by CCLC.
The full High Court decision can be found here.
