Join us for a one-day LLG Adult Social Care Conference designed for local authority adult social care professionals, legal teams, and practitioners navigating an increasingly complex legal and operational landscape. This conference brings together expert speakers to provide clear, practical guidance on statutory duties, risk management, and the latest developments shaping adult social care practice.
The day opens with Mental Health Law in Practice, offering a focused overview of duties under the Mental Health Act and its interface with the Mental Capacity Act, alongside common practice challenges and learning from recent case law and Ombudsman findings. We then explore Ordinary Residence, examining frequent pitfalls, how to avoid disputes, and what makes an effective, well-evidenced referral to the Secretary of State, drawing on learning from recent determinations.
Later sessions address the complex intersection of the Care Act, housing, and immigration law, providing practical guidance on managing cases involving no recourse to public funds and avoiding unlawful gatekeeping. The afternoon turns to the evolving challenges around care home fees, analysing recent judicial review case law, the tension between market sustainability duties and financial pressures, and emerging trends likely to shape disputes through 2026.
The conference also covers complex mental health hospital discharges, focusing on legal duties, capacity and risk management, s117 aftercare, and effective multi-agency working with NHS partners. The day concludes with a case law update, offering a concise roundup of the key decisions practitioners need to understand to remain compliant and confident in their decision-making.
By attending, delegates will gain practical insight, strengthen defensible practice, and stay up to date with the legal developments impacting adult social care. Connect with peers, learn from leading experts, and leave better equipped to manage risk, complexity, and challenge in your day-to-day work.
Adult Social Care & Health National Lead Officer | Solicitor | Sunderland City Council
Adult Social Care & Health National Lead Officer | Supervising Associate Solicitor | Essex County Council
Professor Suzanne Rab is a barrister at Matrix Chambers with over twenty-five years of experience in public law, EU law, competition law, and regulatory law, including subsidy control and state aid law. Her practice focuses particularly on the interface between innovation, trade, and economic regulation, with increasing specialisation in public law challenges affecting local authorities.
Suzanne acts in disputes involving governments, regulators, and businesses across regulated sectors including financial services, energy/environmental, healthcare/pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, TMT, and natural resources. She has developed particular expertise in advising local authorities and care providers on the public law framework governing care home fee-setting under the Care Act 2014, including market sustainability duties, challenges to local authority fee decisions, and judicial review proceedings arising from inadequate funding rates.
Her practice increasingly focuses on ensuring public authorities and challengers navigate the Subsidy Control Act 2022 effectively, from initial subsidy design through to potential actions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal. This work regularly intersects with social care funding issues.
Suzanne appears before the Competition Appeal Tribunal and in judicial review proceedings in the Administrative Court, and has advised on challenges to local authority care commissioning decisions, fee adequacy disputes, and market sustainability assessments.
Prior to joining the bar, she held roles as partner and head of regulatory practice with a leading US law firm and as director at PricewaterhouseCoopers working within its strategy, economics, and regulatory teams.
Heather is a Principal Associate at Capsticks who is an experienced Court of Protection solicitor, with extensive experience advising both NHS health bodies and Local Authorities as to a range of health and social care matters. In addition to regularly appearing before the Court of Protection on behalf of her clients, Heather also advises as to a range of matters, to include internal policy decisions and Judicial Review challenges.
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09:30 - 16:00
Online
