Brayne & Carr: Law for Social Workers 10e 
Glossary
Lecture outlinesBrayne & Carr: Law for Social Workers 10e
N - Z
| A - C | D - M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
N
National Adoption Standards - were published in August 2001 as part of the Government's commitment to improve the performance of the adoption service. The standards can be found on the Department of Health adoption website given earlier. The standards became statutory guidance on 1st April 2003. The purpose of the standards is to make explicit what the stakeholders in the adoption service can expect, particularly with regard to the quality and speed of service. (Chapter 13)
National Assembly for Wales - was set up in May 1999 with powers and functions determined by the Government of Wales Act 1998. This Act gives the Assembly the power to make delegated legislation relating to Wales, to make decisions concerning the budget in Wales, implement European law in Wales and make recommendations to the UK Parliament in Westminster about primary legislation that affects Wales. (Chapter 1)
National Care Standards Commission - was established under the Care Standards Act 2000 to regulate a wide range of social care and private and voluntary health care services. From 1st April 2002, the Commission took over inspection and regulation duties from local authorities and health authorities. (Chapter 1)
National Care Standards Children's Rights Director Regulations 2002 - set out the responsibilities of the Children's Rights Director. (Chapter 1)
National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 - an act which provides for the organisation and planning of health and community care services. (Chapter 17 and 18)
National Probation Service - was created in April 2001 by the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. It provides a national service delivered through 42 local probation areas. It is now subsumed within the National Offender Management Service, which also runs prisons. (Chapter 10)
National Offender Management Service – a new government agency created by merging the Prisons Service with the Probation Service and designed to achieve coherence in dealing between custodial and community sentences and also between rehabilitation/supervision services within prison and after release. (Chapter 14)
National Service Frameworks – Department of Health guidance on provision of services for particular users of health/social care services. So far only elderly service users and mental health have been published. (Chapters 16-19)
Natural justice - a set of principles which underpin lawful decision making by public authorities. These principles are openness (often described as transparency by lawyers and public administrators), fairness, rationality (including giving reasons for decisions), impartiality (which means that decision takers should be independent), accountability, the control of discretion, consistency, participation, efficiency, equity and equal treatment. (Chapter 1)
Nearest relative - the nearest relative, as defined in section 26 of the Mental Health Act 1983, has the power to apply for a person to be admitted to hospital for assessment or treatment, and to discharge the patient. Their powers of discharge are subject to veto by doctors; and a court can order that a different person take on the role if they are not acting in the patient's best interests. (Chapter 19)
No order principle - this principle of the Children Act 1989 means that the court should not make an order unless it considers 'that doing so would be better for the child than making no order at all' (s. 1(5)). It is important to realise that the 'no order principle' is a principle for the court, not for social workers. (Chapter 7)
Non-delay principle – the Children Act 1989 requires that the court 'shall have regard to the general principle that any delay in determining the question is likely to prejudice the welfare of the child'. (s.1(2)). The 'question' here means the question on upbringing the court is deciding. (Chapter 7)
Non-entitled persons – see entitled persons.
Non-molestation order - an order made under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996 which restrains someone from causing or threatening violence to the applicant or to any children or from molesting them. (Chapter 20)
Non-unitary authorities – see unitary authorities.
Notice of intention to adopt - Where proposed adopters wish to adopt a child who is not placed for adoption with them by an adoption agency s.44 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 requires them to give notice to their local authority. The notice must be given not more than two years or less than three months before the date on which the application for the adoption order is made. The local authority must then investigate and report to the court on the suitability of the proposed adopters and other matters relevant to s.1 of the Act. (Chapter 13)
Notice of seeking possession – notice that a landlord must serve on a secure or assured tenant prior to issuing possession proceedings. (Chapter 21)
O
Occupation orders - orders made under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996 which regulate the occupation of the family home to protect any party or children from domestic violence. (Chapter 20)
Offences - can be either summary offences, indictable offences or either way offences. (Chapter 1)
Office of Fair Trading - an independent organisation set up under consumer and competition legislation to help consumers and regulate the operation of business. (Chapter 21)
Ombudsmen - are designed to provide a possible source of redress where private individuals have suffered through the poor administration of a public body, such as a local authority. Public ombudsman schemes originated in Scandinavia and were imported into Britain in the 1960s. (Chapter 1)
Opinion evidence – courts generally like to hear accounts of fact, and to form their own opinions. However much evidence inevitably contains the opinion of a witness, and if there is no other way of giving the evidence, the court will also hear (admit) the opinion evidence. See also expert opinion. (Chapter 12)
Oral evidence – evidence given in court or a tribunal from the witness box. (Chapter 12)
Orders - a form of delegated legislation. (Chapter 1)
P
PACE – see Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
PCCSA – see Powers of Criminal Courts Sentencing Act 2000
Parenting order – an order under s.8 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which can be made when a child has been convicted of a criminal offence, an anti-social behaviour order is made, a child safety order or conviction for truanting, the parents can be ordered to attend parenting skills classes. (Chapters 15 and 21)
Parental responsibility – mothers automatically have this and fathers too if they have been married to the mother; unmarried fathers can acquire it by registering the birth of their child. Parental responsibility empowers the person to take decisions about the upbringing of the child. In cases of dispute courts can determine issues which could have been determined by a person with parental responsibility, and can give people other than the parents parental responsibility. It is lost if the child is adopted. (Chapter 7)
Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration - is the name for the ombudsman who deals with the administrative failings of government departments. The public does not have direct access to the ombudsman. Complaints must go first of all to Members of Parliament. MPs are not obliged to refer the complaints they receive to the parliamentary ombudsman if they consider that they can deal with the matter themselves. (Chapter 1)
Parliamentary Commissioner for Local Government – see local government ombudsman.
Part III accommodation – accommodation provided by or on behalf of the social services authority for people who are too old, sick, disabled or for some other reason unable to manage without it. The reference is to Part III of the National Assistance Act. (Chapter 19)
Patient – for the purposes of mental health law a patient is any person suffering from any mental disorder, including inability to manage their affairs, if this can trigger the use of Mental Health Act powers. A person can be a patient without being in hospital or receiving treatment. (Chapter 19)
Penal notice - is attached to an injunction warning of the risk of imprisonment. Penal notices are compulsory on non-molestation orders which are available under Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996 (domestic violence). (Chapter 20)
Personal information or data - is information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual which is processed automatically (including information processed on a computer) or recorded manually as part of a filing system or part of an accessible record. (Chapter 4)
Pindown - refers to physical restraint used on children in care see The Pindown Experience and the Protection of Children, by Allan Levy QC and Barbara Kahan: Staffordshire County Council, 1991. (Chapter 13)
Placement for adoption - placement of children by adoption agencies for adoption is covered by s. 18 – 29 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Placement can either be actual placement with the prospective adopters or it can act as an authority to place with prospective adopters once these have been identified. Placement allows adoption agencies to plan effectively for any subsequent adoption. (Chapter 13)
Police Protection – see removal and accommodation of children by police.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 – legislation which sets out, among other things, the way in which police will question and treat a suspect, and which provides limits on the use of the evidence obtained through questioning. (Chapter 14)
Power – a permissive statement within a statute - where a statute gives a person or a body a power to do some act, the person or the body may exercise that power but they are not obliged to do so. (Chapter 1)
Power of arrest - where a power of arrest is attached to an injunction a police officer can arrest without warrant anyone suspected of breaching the terms of the order, and bring him or her before the court for punishment for contempt of court. Powers of arrest are available under Part IV of the Family Law Act (domestic violence) and under s.152 and s.153 of the Housing Act 1996. (Chapter 20)
Power of Attorney – a way of delegating authority to a named person who then can carry out property or financial transactions on behalf of the person drawing up the power; a particular form which is useful if a person later becomes mentally incapable of managing their affairs is the Lasting Power of Attorney (see Lasting Power of Attorney). (Chapters 3 and 17)
Powers of Criminal Courts Sentencing Act 2000 – legislation which consolidates all the courts' sentencing powers previously set out in Acts dating back to 1933. (Chapter 14)
Practice Directions – are judge made law which govern the day to day practice of litigation. (Chapter 1)
Precedents - are court decisions which state legal principles which provide an example or authority for judges deciding similar issues later. Generally, decisions of higher courts (within a particular system of courts) are binding on lower courts within that system. (Chapter 1)
Pre-sentence report – a report prepared either by a social worker or probation officer to assist the court to determine the appropriate sentence for this offender. (Chapters 10 and 14)
Presumptions - courts can make assumptions about the meaning of evidence without hearing further proof, for example that a child born to a married mother is the child of the father. Presumptions do not apply if there is evidence which rebuts this conclusion but they will apply if not challenged. (Chapter 12)
Primary Hearing Centres - are centres which the government proposes will be the principal venues for civil and family hearings. They will be based mainly in existing county and combined court centres in towns and cities across England and Wales. They will deal with most types of hearings and provide a full range of counter services. They will have high quality facilities and support including the use of video-conferencing and digital audio recording. (Chapter 1)
Private law - cases are cases brought by private individuals. (Chapter 1)
Privilege – information or communications which are privileged do not have to be disclosed to others or, depending on the level of privilege, in court. A high level of privilege is accorded to communications between a lawyer and a client. (Chapters 4 and 12)
Prohibited steps order – an order made under s. 8 of the Children Act 1989. A court can order a parent not to take a particular step, for example taking a child to another country or having him circumcised, which that parent would otherwise have the power to carry out because of having parental responsibility. (Chapter 7)
Protected information – is, for the purposes of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, information which allows the adopted person or any other person connected with the adoption to be identified. (Chapter 13)
Protection from Eviction Act 1977 – an act which provides that most residential occupiers are entitled to notice and court orders before a legal eviction can take place and which provides for criminal and civil sanctions for illegal eviction and harassment. Note that some types of tenancy and licence are excluded from some of its protections, such as tenants with resident landlords. (Chapter 21)
Protection from Harassment Act 1997 – a piece of legislation designed to provide speedy and effective remedies for harassment. It creates two criminal offences and also authorises civil courts to award damages and make injunctions in harassment case. Though it was passed primarily because of concerns about stalking the Act covers other types of harassment as well. (Chapter 20)
Psychopathic disorder – defined in s.1 of the Mental Health Act 1983 as a 'persistent disorder or disability of mind (whether or not including significant impairment of intelligence) which results in abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct'. It is sufficient to trigger compulsory admission to hospital for assessment, but if it is not treatable it is not a ground for detention for treatment. (Chapter 19)
Public Interest Disclosure Act 1999 - is an act that is designed to encourage people to raise genuine concerns about malpractice in the workplace by providing legal protection against dismissal or victimisation. (Chapter 2)
Public interest immunity - is the shorthand for the legal rule which allows public bodies to withhold information on the grounds of public interest. (Chapter 4)
Public law cases - are cases brought by public authorities, such as the social services departments of local authorities. (Chapter 1)
Public Law Outline – this replaces the Protocol for Judicial Case Management from April 2008. The purpose is to ensure that local authorities submit improved applications to court, ensuring all kinship options have been fully explored and all relevant assessments are completed before applications are made to the court. (Chapter 11)
R
RRA – see Race Relations Act 1976
Race Relations Act 1976 – an Act which forbids direct or indirect discrimination in employment or provision of goods services or education if the reason for the discrimination is race, ethnic or national origins. Following amendment in 2001 it also requires all public authorities to ensure that their actions do not discriminate on these grounds. There are exceptions which permit acts of discrimination to be lawful. (Chapter 2)
Racially aggravated offences – these were created by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29 – 32. The offences are racially aggravated assaults, racially aggravated criminal damage, racially aggravated public order offences and racially aggravated harassment. The offences are all pre-existing offences which become more serious as a result of the racial motivation for the offence. (Chapter 20)
Racial harassment - this is difficult to define but the metropolitan police define it as any incident in which it appears to the reporting or investigating officer that the complaint involves an element of racial motivation or any incident which includes an allegation of racial motivation made by any person. (Chapter 20)
Real evidence - things which a court can observe in the course of trying a case; it can include the physical appearance of the witness and how they behave, as well as objects (such as for example the hairbrush which a witness says was used to hit a child). (Chapter 12)
Recovery orders - are orders under s. 41 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Where it appears to the court that a child has been or may be removed in contravention of the provisions of the Act then the court may order the removal and production of the child to the court. (Chapter 13)
Re-examination – see examination in chief
Refugee – a person whose status as a person fleeing persecution in their own country has been accepted in the new host country; under both international and UK law entitled to remain, work, receive benefit etc.
Removal and Accommodation of children by police – this refers to a power under s.46 of the Children Act 1989. No court order is necessary for the police to implement this power which enables the police to remove a child or to keep a child in a safe place. (Chapter 9)
Registered Social Landlord - most Housing Associations are Registered Social Landlords which means that they have complied with the requirements of the Housing Act 1996 and are registered with the Housing Corporation which regulates their activities. (Chapter 21)
Regulations - are a form of delegated legislation. (Chapter 1)
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 - an Act which regulates surveillance of individuals by the state. It claims to ensure that the use of powers to investigate individuals through surveillance or to intercept telecommunication complies with the Human Rights Act, in particular Article 8. (Chapter 4)
Relevant children – those young people aged 16 and 17 who meet the criteria for eligible children under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, but who leave care. Regulations may exclude certain groups, such as children who return home permanently and children who receive respite care. (Chapter 8)
Relevant evidence – rules of law derived from past cases restrict the admissibility of evidence to what is relevant, which means that if it were to be believed it would help to decide the case. Some forms of evidence which might appear relevant, such as a person's past history in a criminal case, are excluded as legally irrelevant. (Chapter 12)
Remand – where a court has to adjourn (or where a magistrates' court or youth court commits to the Crown Court) in all but a trivial case it will remand the defendant. This means it must consider whether to grant bail (a form of remand) or remand in custody. (Chapter 15)
Reparation order – a community sentence available only to juveniles in which the offender makes reparation to the victim directly or to the community in general. (Chapter 14)
Reports - written communication. There are three particularly important reports which social workers are required to produce, internal agency reports which inform decision-making in particular cases, court reports which are primarily to assist the court in knowing what type of order to make and evidential statements or proofs of evidence – statements provided to a lawyer which will be provided to the court. (Chapter 10)
Report of the Inquiry into Victoria Climbié - the Laming Report - on 28th January 2003 Lord Laming's report into the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié was published. The report highlighted the breakdown in communication between social workers hospital staff and police. It also emphasised the need for accountability at a managerial level. (Chapter 6)
Representations - courts have to make decisions on whether certain facts are true (did the accused carry out the burglary? Has the child suffered significant harm?) The court then has to decide on how to exercise its powers (for example the sentence in a criminal case, a care order in a Children Act case). It can hear representations from, for example, lawyers and social workers as to how it should exercise these powers (and will also consider reports which contain representations). (Chapter 12)
Reprimand – the police can reprimand a person who admits a criminal offence which in the view of the police it is not appropriate to charge the offender with. See also warning. (Chapter 15)
Residence order – an order in which a court determines who a child will live with, and if necessary the actual details of the place, the time etc. A residence order to a particular person provides that person with parental responsibility. (Chapter 7)
Respondent - a person being sued. (Chapter 1)
Right to fair trial – article 6 of the ECHR and perhaps the most important of the Convention rights. Requires not just courts and tribunals to make decisions in an independent and fair manner, but also other decision making forums, such as child case conferences or decisions relating to the child at-risk register. (Chapter 3)
Right to respect for private and family life – article 8 of the ECHR, and an important ground on which acts of social services departments which interfere with family life can be challenged. (Chapter 3)
Right not to suffer inhuman or degrading treatment – article 3 of the ECHR. The welfare services of the state owe a duty to protect children from such treatment; also care homes and prisons must comply. (Chapter 3)
Right to liberty and security – article 5 of the ECHR. This would for example prevent disruptive children in care being locked up without lawful grounds and fair hearing. (Chapter 3)
Right to life – article 2 of the ECHR. Under this, as well as under the Children Act, the state through its welfare agencies must prevent children being killed by abusive carers. (Chapter 3)
Right to silence – when being questioned by police or appearing in a trial, a suspect or accused person cannot be required to help the prosecution with their case and can remain silent. A court may in certain circumstances use the silence to strengthen the case against the accused, but silence can never suffice on its own for a conviction. (Chapter 14)
Rule Committee - is a committee of judges with legislative authority which draft the court rules necessary to implement legislation. (Chapter 1)
Rules of court – rules which cover the procedures of court such as those issued under the Children Act 1989. (Chapter 1)
Rule of law - means that no matter how much any individual may dislike a law, whilst he or she remains a member of this particular society, they are required to obey the law. The rule of law in a democracy means that we are ruled by politicians in Parliament who can pass whatever laws they see fit, and the citizens have to obey those laws. (Chapter 1)
S
SDA – see Sex Discrimination Act 1975
s.31A plans - from the implementation date of s.121 of the Adoption and Children Act 2003 s.31 of the Children Act will be amended by a new (3A). The courts will be required to consider care plans before making a care order although the responsibility for the operationalizing and review of the plans will remain with the local authority. (Chapter 11)
s. 37 investigation - this refers to a power which is given to the courts in s.37 of the Children Act 1989. In the course of any family proceedings not involving a local authority, a court may have legitimate reasons to be concerned about the care of children. If that is the case the court has the power under s. 37 of the Children Act 1989 to give directions to a local authority to investigate and consider whether care proceedings should be brought. (Chapter 11)
Safeguarding Children – s.8 of the Children Act 2004 imposes a specific duty on certain agencies including children's services authorities to ensure that their functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. (Chapter 6)
Secondary legislation – see delegated legislation
Section 8 (s.8) order – a reference to s.8 of the Children Act 1989. These are orders by which a court specifies the exercise of particular responsibilities which would otherwise be exercised through parental responsibility. There are four types: contact, residence, specific issue and prohibited steps orders. (Chapter 7)
Secure accommodation - is accommodation that restricts the liberty of a child. Detailed regulations have been issued under s. 25 of the Children Act (written in the light of 'pindown') in respect of the type of accommodation and who may be placed in it. See The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations, Vol. 4, 'Residential Care', and the Children (Secure Accommodation) Regulations 1991. (Chapter 8)
Secure tenancies – are tenancies provided by local authorities to people who occupy the property as their only or principal home. The respective rights and responsibilities of the local authority landlord and the tenant are set out in the Housing Act 1985. Rights of the tenant include the right to buy, the right to repair, the right to take in lodgers and the right to information. (Chapter 21)
Security requirement – when a juvenile is refused bail by a criminal court, he or she must normally be accommodated by the local authority. If 12 or over the juvenile can be made subject to a security requirement, which can impose conditions on what the juvenile can do, who they must reside with, and which can require their liberty to be restricted. (Chapter 14)
Seebohm Report – the report which recommended the creation of unified social service departments within the local authority, which was enacted in the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970. (Chapter 1)
Sensitive personal data - for the purposes of the Data Protection Act is data concerned with ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health, sexual life and criminal offences. There are strict controls on its use. (Chapter 4)
Severe mental impairment - defined in s. 1 of the Mental Health Act 1983 as a 'state of arrested or incomplete development of mind which includes severe impairment of intelligence and social functioning and is associated with abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible behaviour.' Diagnosis can lead to compulsory admission to hospital for treatment. (Chapter 19)
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 – the first anti-discrimination measure, which makes unlawful most discrimination on grounds of gender, marital status or gender reassignment in employment situations, and in relation to education, and provision of goods and services.) There are exceptions which permit acts of discrimination to be lawful. (Chapter 3)
Sex offender order - following a criminal conviction of a person for a sex offence police can obtain this order, under the Sex Offenders Act 1997 which can limit the freedom of the offender to go to certain defined places. (Chapter 15)
Shelter – a national voluntary organization campaigning to improve rights for the homeless and badly housed. (Chapter 21)
Significant harm - this is an essential component of the 'threshold criteria' set out in s.31 of the Children Act 1989. Harm is defined in the Act as ill treatment or the impairment of health or development. The harm or likelihood of harm has to be attributable to the fact that the care given or likely to be given to the child (as appropriate) is not what a parent would reasonably be expected to give to the child. Whether harm is significant is a matter for the court to decide as a question of fact. (Chapters 7 and 11)
Silence – see Right to silence.
'Someone Else's Children' (DoH, 1998) - a report summarising concerns about the inadequacies of the provisions for looked after children.
Special guardianship - is a legal status created by s. 115 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 which amends the Children Act 1989 to insert new provisions, sections 14A – G. The special guardianship order, as the explanatory notes to the Act set out is intended "to provide the child with the stability he needs", and therefore "the special guardian has clear responsibility for all the day to day decisions about caring for the child or young person and for taking decisions about his upbringing. (Chapter 13)
Special measures – under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 vulnerable witnesses are entitled to special measures to reduce the trauma of giving evidence in a criminal trial. These range from the removal of wigs through to pre-recording a child's evidence and carrying out any cross-examination via a video link. (Chapter 15)
Specific issue order – an order under s.8 of the Children Act 1989 which is used to resolve a disagreement about a particular aspect of a child's upbringing (for example which school he will go to, what surname she will be known by) the court can make the decision instead of the persons with parental responsibility. (Chapter 7)
Standard of proof – in a criminal case this is 'beyond a reasonable doubt', which means that a defendant is entitled to an acquittal if the prosecution have not convinced the jury or magistrates beyond a reasonable doubt of all elements of the crime; for a civil case see balance of probabilities. (Chapter 12)
Statutory instruments - see delegated legislation. Statutory instruments come in two forms: Regulations and Orders. It is not important to distinguish between these. (Chapter 1)
Statutory interpretation - has evolved over centuries as guidance to courts on how to interpret statutes of parliament. When courts have had to decide what a statute says, there has developed a series of so-called 'rules' that guide the courts. Their effect is to set out the approach that should be adopted by the courts. There are three main 'rules': first, the 'literal rule', which says that the words in a statute are taken to have their literal meaning unless such an interpretation produces a nonsensical result. In that case the 'golden rule' applies which says if the literal meaning produces an absurd result then you look at it in the overall context of the statute. If these two 'rules' do not help then the 'mischief rule' is applied. This rule states that you interpret the meaning of the word in the light of what the problem or mischief was that the statute was passed to deal with. (Chapter 1)
Statutory nuisance - part Three of the 1990 Environmental Protection Act has a list of statutory nuisances which includes any premises in such a state as to be harmful to health or a nuisance (See section 79(1)(a)). This enables environmental health officers to issue abatement procedures for housing that is in an unhealthy state. (Chapter 21)
Statutes – Acts of Parliament - start life as Bills. These may be bills sponsored by Government ministers, or private members bills. Private members bills are as the name suggests bills sponsored by ordinary backbench Members of Parliament. Most bills are government bills, but within the field of social care there have been some very significant Acts which started life as private member's bills, for instance the Homeless Persons Act 1977 and the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986. (Chapter 1)
Summary offences - are the most common offences. Examples include common assault, less serious criminal damage and taking a motor vehicle without consent (this offence is known by the acronym 'TWOC'). They can normally be dealt with only in the magistrates' court which has limited powers of sentencing. (Chapter 1)
Supervised community treatment order – available from October 2008 as a package of controlling measures for a patient released from hospital detention under the Mental Health Act. (Chapter 19)
Supervision order – there are two types of order, one arising from a criminal conviction, which can lay down a series of requirements for the child offender to comply with; the second is under s.35 of the Children Act 1989 if significant harm, or risk, have been established and the court believes supervision by a social worker would be in the interest of the child. The grounds on which a supervision order can be made under the Children Act 1989 are identical to the grounds for a care order. (Chapters 11 and 14)
Supporting people – interagency framework for meeting housing and social care needs at the same time by pooling funding and effort. (Chapter 21)
T
Tenancy relations officers – officers employed by many local authorities to help landlords and tenants understand their respective rights and responsibilities. Where necessary tenancy relations officers will prosecute landlords for offences under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. (Chapter 21)
Tenant – a tenant is someone who has exclusive possession of a property, who pays a rent and who has made an agreement that lasts for a rental period known as a term and who is not excluded from the scope of a tenancy by any common law decision. Most people, but not everyone, who rent property are tenants. It is an important status because only tenants benefit from a range of statutory protections. (Chapter 21)
Threshold conditions – the Children Act 1989 under section 31 provides that a court has to be satisfied of certain facts before it can make a care order or a supervision order. These facts are that a child has suffered or is likely to suffer significant harm because of the quality of the parenting. This does not mean a court will then make the order – once the threshold is crossed, it is still necessary for the court to consider whether the order would be in the interests of the child, and better than making no order. (Chapter 11 – see also Chapter 6)
Tribunals - are created by statute and are administered by the relevant government department. Tribunals generally consist of three people, with only the chair being legally qualified. Their numbers have dramatically increased over the last 50 years. Currently there are about 80 types. Their purpose is to provide a quicker and less formal forum than the courts and to allow cases to be adjudicated by people with an expertise in the particular jurisdiction. (Chapter 1)
U
Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 - regulate consumer contracts (including tenancies) to ensure that terms other than terms which are described as core terms, are fair and transparent. Core terms, such as price or statutory terms or individually negotiated terms are excluded from the Regulations. The effect of the regulations is that the courts will strike out contracts terms which breach them; it is the Office of Fair Trading which is the main enforcer of the regulations. (Chapter 21)
Unitary authorities - are in London and metropolitan areas. Unitary authorities carry out all local authority functions for the geographical area they serve so in these authorities the local housing authority will be the same authority as the social services authority. In non-unitary authorities social services and housing are in different authorities. (Chapters 1 and 21)
W
Ward of court – a child who has become the subject of wardship proceedings. (Chapter 1)
Warning – an alternative to a charge available to the police where the person admits the offence; if the offender is convicted of a further offence the court will be made aware when deciding the sentence that he or she was previously warned. See also reprimand. (Chapter 14)
Wardship - is the process by which the High Court steps in and takes over in place of the child's parent. The authority of the High Court to do this derives from what is described as its inherent jurisdiction. (Chapter 1)
Wednesbury principles - are the principles stated by the judges sitting in a case called Associated Provincial Picture Houses v Wednesbury Corporation [1947] 2 All ER 680. The case concerned the question of whether or not cinemas should be allowed to open on Sundays in the town of Wednesbury. The cinema lost. The Wednesbury principles of reasonableness are used to determine whether an agency or authority has acted outside the scope of its delegated administrative powers. (Chapter 1)
Welfare checklist - this is found in the Children Act 1989, s.1(3). It is applicable to all court proceedings in both private and public law, except court proceedings under Part V (the emergency protection of children). It consists of a uniform checklist to which the courts need to have regard when they are faced with a dispute concerning any child. It is applicable whether the dispute is between individuals, or a local authority is applying for an order. (Chapter 6)
Welfare reports - are prepared by court and family reporters employed by CAFCASS (Chapter 10)
Welfare principle - the welfare principle is set out in s.1(1) of the Children Act 1989. When a court (but only a court) considers any matter concerning the welfare of the child, the court shall treat the child's welfare as its paramount consideration. This means that although the Act tries to balance the rights of the child and the rights of the parents, finally the court must do what the court sees as being best for the child. The welfare principle in s.1 does not apply to all decisions by the court. (Chapter 6)
White Paper – a document setting out the government's policy objectives prior to legislation. White Papers were originally published with white covers. (Chapter 1)
Without notice – generally hearings are only held when both sides are aware of the case. However in emergencies hearings can be held without the party against whom an application is made having notice of it. Full hearings will be held at a later date. (Chapter 20)
Working Together to Safeguard Children, Department of Health 2006 - is a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. (Chapters 6 and 11)
Y
YOT – see Youth Offending Team
Youth court – a part of the magistrates court which deals with all offenders under 18, unless they appear in the adult court together with an adult; the youth court will try and sentence in most cases, unless the juvenile is charged with a grave crime. (Chapter 17– see also Chapter 1)
Youth Justice Board - was established to have oversight of local arrangements for youth justice. It has developed national standards for youth justice work and sets targets for local services. (Chapter 14)
Youth Justice Service - was established by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 with the principal aim of the prevention of offending by children and young people. (Chapter 14)
Youth Offending Team – a multi-disciplinary multi-agency team co-ordinated by the social services department with a statutory responsibility to provide a range of services including making appropriate adults available in the police station, providing reports to the court for sentencing purposes, and administering community sentences. (Chapter 14)
View print version