Steve Broach

Overview

Steve is a public lawyer focusing on the rights of children (in particular disabled children) and disabled adults and others in need of services and support. Steve acts mainly for individual claimants but also advises and represents a number of NGOs and public bodies. He has particular expertise around the obligations in domestic and Convention law to support children in 'need' and is co-author of Children in Need: Local Authority Support for Children and Families (Legal Action Group, April 2011). Steve has a particular commitment to the rights of disabled children and is also co-author of Disabled Children: A Legal Handbook (Legal Action Group, October 2010). Steve was awarded Young Barrister of the year at Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2011.

Areas of practice

Public Law
Steve is instructed on a wide range public law challenges, particularly in the areas of community care, education and health. Steve routinely advises and represents claimants in judicial review proceedings. He has a particular interest in legal challenges to cuts to public services and was junior counsel for the Claimants in the successful challenge to Birmingham's decision to move its eligibility threshold for adult social care to 'critical only'; R (W, M and others) v Birmingham CC [2011] EWHC 1147 (Admin). Steve is currently instructed on a number of other challenges to cuts to important services for disabled children and disabled adults.

Steve's notable cases include:

Supreme Court

• R (McDonald) v Kensington and Chelsea, UKSC/2011/0005 - junior counsel (led by Stephen Cragg) in appeal concerning whether a decision to terminate night-time carer support for a disabled woman by reliance on the provision of incontinence pads is compatible with the authority's obligations in domestic community care and disability discrimination law and under Article 8 ECHR.
• A v Essex [2010] UKSC 33 - junior counsel (led by Ian Wise QC) for the National Autistic Society as Intervener - case concerned the nature and scope of the right to education under Article 2 of Protocol 1 ECHR in relation to disabled children.
• C and C v Nottingham CC, UKSC/2010/0211 - junior counsel (led by Edward Fitzgerald QC) for The Children's Society in intervention in support of claimants' application for permission to appeal in case concerning the duties owed to homeless teenagers under section 20 of the Children Act 1989.

Court of Appeal

• R (KM) v Cambridgshire County Council, C1/2010/2803 - junior counsel (led by Ian Wise QC) in appeal against refusal of permission for judicial review challenging the allocation of funding to a disabled adult under a Resource Allocation Scheme (RAS).
• Haringey IAP v M [2010] EWCA Civ 1103 - junior counsel (led by Ian Wise QC) in an appeal concerning the requirements of the School Admissions Codes in relation to vulnerable children. Acted alone in the High Court before Lord Carlile of Berriew QC ([2009] EWHC 2427 (Admin)).
• R (O) v Barking and Dagenham LBC [2010] EWCA Civ 1101 - junior counsel (led by Ian Wise QC) for The Children's Society as Intervener - appeal in relation to the provision of accommodation by local authorities to former relevant children and the interplay with the asylum support provisions.

High Court

• R (RCN and others) v Secretary of State for Home Department [2010] EWHC 2761 - junior counsel (led by Ian Wise QC) in case in which the High Court declared that provisions under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Acts 2006 to place individuals on a list of people prohibited from working with vulnerable adults and children without giving them an opportunity to make representations were contrary to articles 6 and 8 ECHR. Declaration of Incompatibility made by Wyn Williams J.
• R (VC and others) v Newcastle CC, CO/12891/2010 - counsel (acting alone) in Divisional Court case concerning whether the Children Act 1989 takes precedence over 'hard case' support under 'section 4' for families with no immigration status. Judgment expected shortly.
• R (B) v Barnet LBC [2009] EWHC 2842 (Admin), (2009) 12 CCLR 679 - junior counsel (led by Ian Wise QC) in successful application for judicial review in relation to breaches of care planning obligations and educational duties for disabled child with complex needs;
• R (BH and GM) v Haringey PCT, CO/11625/2010 - counsel (acting alone) for a number of adults with acquired brain injuries whose services had been terminated by the PCT. Matter settled with after proceedings issued.

As well as acting for individual claimants, Steve regularly advises and represents leading charities and NGOs. This work includes speaking on legal issues at local and national events and seminars and case work. As well as interventions for the National Autistic Society (A v Essex) and The Children's Society (O v Barking and Dagenham; C and C v Nottingham) outlined above, Steve has:

• Acted for CRAE (the Children's Rights Alliance for England), led by Richard Hermer QC, in successful Information Tribunal proceedings which led to the disclosure of the manual governing the use of control and restraint in Secure Training Centres. Steve is currently instructed with Richard Hermer QC and Alex Gask to challenge the failure of the Secretary of State to inform former detainees of their right to redress as victims of unlawful restraint (R (CRAE) v Secretary of State for Justice, CO/1372/2011);
• Advised Save the Children (with Paul Bowen and Alex Gask) on the enforceability of the duties in the Child Poverty Act 2009;
• Advised the National Autistic Society (with Ian Wise QC) on the lawfulness of the draft guidance on services for adults with autism to be issued under the Autism Act 2009, leading to significant amendments to the final guidance;
• Advised Contact a Family and The Children's Trust in relation to their 'DLA Takeaway' campaign, which seeks to preserve Disability Living Allowance for children in hospital;
• Assisted the Council for Disabled Children (CDC) to intervene in R (JL) v Islington LBC [2009] EWHC 458 (Admin), a successful challenge brought by Paul Bowen to Islington's eligibility criteria for short break services. CDC's intervention was approved by the judge as evidence that this case highlighted a wider problem affecting many families with disabled children.

Steve has established a significant regulatory practice and is regularly instructed by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), in particular to challenge police disclosure decisions in relation to nurses who require an Enhanced Criminal Records Certificate (ECRC). Steve has successfully overturned a number of these disclosure decisions, often when permission to proceed to judicial review has been granted. In R (S) v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, C.O./2483/2010, the police agreed to withdraw the disclosure and pay both compensation to the nurse claimant and the RCN's costs. Steve is currently instructed by the RCN to challenge the failure by the Secretary of State to issue guidance to police forces on their disclosure obligations in respect of ECRCs.

Having succeeded (with Ian Wise QC) in establishing that the 'auto barring' provisions of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 breach Articles 6 and 8 ECHR (see RCN and others v Secretary of State, above), Steve is now taking a number of appeals to the Upper Tribunal to seek to overturn decisions by the Independent Safeguarding Authority to place individuals on the children's and adults barred list. Permission has been granted in one of these matters and the appeal is set for October 2011, which will be one of the first Upper Tribunal hearing under the new scheme. Steve also advises and represents professionals who are subject to disciplinary proceedings, in particular members of the RCN who are required to appear before the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Steve has an extensive immigration and asylum support practice. Steve has particular expertise on the relationship between the community care scheme for children and adults and the asylum support provisions and is regularly instructed on judicial review challenges to decisions of local authorities to terminate accommodation and support being provided to failed asylum seekers. An example of this work is R (J and others) v Hackney LBC [2010] EWHC 3021 (Admin), where Steve obtained both interim relief and costs once the claim had settled. In R (IN and WH) v Salford CC, CO/12626/2010, Steve obtained interim relief for two destitute failed asylum seekers, with the authority conceding that it was required to re-assess the claimants' needs. Steve also regularly volunteers at the Asylum Support Tribunal for ASAP (Asylum Support Appeals Project).

Steve appears frequently for parents and children in education appeals at the First Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), the Upper Tribunal and at exclusions and admissions Independent Appeal Panels (IAPs). Steve's successful Tribunal and IAP cases have included:

• Overturning a decision of the First-Tier Tribunal in the Upper Tribunal in relation to whether a form of intervention for children with autism and their families is capable of being 'educational provision'; ZT v Oldham Council (SEN), HS/587/2010;
• Overturning the permanent exclusion of a six year old boy with special educational needs on the basis of a failure to have regard to the relevant statutory guidance;
• Successfully challenging the policy of a unitary authority in the South of England that was unlawfully ceasing to maintain Statements of SEN at 16;
• Achieving the admission of a girl from a family who had experienced serious domestic abuse into her mother's chosen school; and
• Obtaining a specialist sixth form placement for a severely disabled young man with autism whom the local authority considered could be placed in a local mainstream college, and also obtaining costs against the authority.

Steve has advised and represented in numerous disability discrimination claims, particularly in relation to education, and succeeded in establishing discrimination by a school in South-East England against a 10 year old girl with Asperger syndrome and specific learning difficulties.

Steve is instructed regularly in Court of Protection cases, using the knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act he gained prior to coming to the bar as the Co-Chair of the Making Decisions Alliance, the voluntary sector coalition campaign for the Act. Most recently Steve has issued Court of Protection proceedings in a factually complex case where P's son is being prevented from having unrestricted contact with his mother as a result of unsubstantiated abuse allegations. Steve also advises and represents families of disabled children in best interest proceedings, using the inherent jurisdiction of the Family Division of the High Court to determine issues in the child's best interests.

Steve appears in the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal for bail applications, case management hearings, asylum appeals and immigration appeals under the points-based system. Steve is currently instructed by a specialist college for the deaf to argue that the requirement in the Immigration Rules that foreign students must study at a particular level is discriminatory and breaches the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Article 14 ECHR. Steve succeeded in the First Tier Tribunal and the Secretary of State's appeal will now be heard in the Upper Tribunal.

Steve undertakes prison work, including Parole Board hearings and applications for judicial review, particularly in relation to disabled prisoners.

Crime

Having appeared frequently in magistrates' and crown courts on criminal matters during pupillage, Steve continues to be instructed on criminal cases involving disabled clients. Currently, Steve is instructed as junior to Paul Bowen on a death penalty appeal for a client in St Vincent with severe mental health problems, with the appeal raising issues of fitness to plead, diminished responsibility and insanity. Steve is also currently instructed by Just for Kids Law in domestic criminal proceedings involving youths with Asperger syndrome, where fitness to plead is again in issue.

Trustee positions and advisory work

Steve is Chair of AbleChild Africa, a UK-based NGO supporting NGOs working for disabled children and their families in Africa. Steve was also previously a trustee of the Campaign to End Child Poverty.

Steve chairs the School Exclusions Project with the BPP Pro Bono Unit through which law students provide free representation to families at school exclusion Independent Appeal Panels.

Steve is an advisor to Ambitious About Autism, the charity for children with autism which runs TreeHouse school. Steve continues to advise a wide range of charities and NGOs, in particular the Council for Disabled Children and the National Autistic Society.

Background

Before coming to Doughty Street Chambers in 2008, Steve worked extensively in the voluntary sector on behalf of disabled children and disabled adults.

From 2006 to 2008, Steve was Campaign Manager for the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign (EDCM), which secured a £770 million investment programme in disabled children's services from 2008-11. Steve also led on amendments to the Children and Young Persons Bill 2008, creating a new duty on local authorities to provide short breaks for disabled children (in force April 2011).

From 2004-2006, Steve was Head of Public Affairs at TreeHouse, the national charity for autism education. Prior to this, Steve established the policy and campaigns team at the National Autistic Society, where he was Head of Policy and Campaigns. In these roles, Steve was a leading member of the Special Education Consortium (SEC) and was heavily involved in SEC's work on a number of education Bills to ensure the rights of disabled children and children with special educational needs were protected in the new legislation.

Steve has given evidence to a range of parliamentary committees, including the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Incapacity Bill and the Work and Pensions Committee inquiry on child poverty. He has also written widely on legal and policy issues in autism, special education and disability, including articles for Legal Action, ChildRight and Poverty.

In 2005/6, Steve interned at the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) in Banjul, the Gambia during a session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and gained an insight into African human rights instruments and mechanisms.

Also in 2006, Steve was a visiting fellow at the International Centre for Tolerance Education in Brooklyn, New York, conducting a detailed comparative analysis of the human rights situation relating to children with autism in the United States and the United Kingdom. Steve has also undertaken lobbying and advocacy consultancy visits to disabled children's NGOs in Poland and Uganda.

Year of Call

2008

Education

MA (First Class) History (Edinburgh); MRes Government, Policy and Politics (London); GDL and BVC, BPP Law School; Diplock Scholar and Queen Mother's Scholar, Middle Temple.

Email Address

s.broach@doughtystreet.co.uk

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Specialist Teams

Member :

• Community Care & Health
• Criminal Law
• Human Rights
• Immigration
• International Law Group
• Mental Health
• Prisoner's Rights
• Public and Administrative Law