Reported Case

In this case the Claimant challenged the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s (SSHD) failure to find suitable accommodation subject to Section 4 of the Immigration Act, to enable his release on bail. This has resulted in the Claimant remaining in detention for 10 months pending an accommodation offer. To date his time in detention equates to almost 15 months. According to his licence, the Claimant must be accommodated in a Complex Bail Accommodation (CBA) according to the Caseworker’s assessment as a Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement (MAPPA) Risk Level 2.

Bail Accommodation

There are three types of bail accommodation available: initial, temporary hostel housing; standard dispersal; and complex. As a registered sex offender, the Claimant can only reasonably be housed in Complex Bail Accommodation.

Deputy High Court Judge Rhodri Price Lewis QC considered the “Criminal Casework – Considering cases for Section 4 Bail Accommodation” 3.0 referred to by Edis J in R (Sathanantham & others) v SSHD [2016] EWHC1781 (Admin) in his judgment.

Page 2 reads: ‘High risk cases and FNOs subject to… MAPPA may be more difficult to accommodate, as the range of suitable accommodation…is…restricted and therefore provision of accommodation for these subjects may take longer to arrange.’

Judgment

The Claimant applied for bail 3 times.

The first application was withdrawn on 10 October 2017 as no suitable accommodation had been sourced. The First-Tier Tribunal judgment stated:

“I am further of the view that the failure of the Probation Service to approve an address after four months, for whatever reason, is indefensible.”

The second was refused on 3 November 2017 as the accommodation had not been approved by the police since the Claimant’s licence stipulates that, since he is under the Offender Management Unit’s supervision in Glasgow, an accommodation in Sunderland cannot be accepted.

The third, on 19 April 2018, was refused as the bail address could not be assessed by the police failing cooperation by the housing association. Further to this, on 14 May 2018 the police stated:

"Neither Police Scotland nor local housing are able to fully risk assess the property…due to the transient nature of the persons frequenting these flats and the fact that no details can be provided in relation to the identities of those in surrounding addresses, so we would be unable to confirm if it was suitable. However, we would consider the address as Manageable, as it would be more beneficial for [the Claimant] to be 'housed' than to be of no fixed abode."

The Claimant’s submissions that the SSHD failed on the first two stages of their duty, namely failing to correctly assess what type of accommodation the Claimant requires and then failing to seek such accommodation by sending appropriate requirements to the relevant provider, has been dismissed.

Rhodri Price Lewis QC did not find the SSHD’s actions unlawful. He ruled each individual accommodation proposed and the caseworker’s assessment to be ‘appropriate’ considering the ‘limited supply’. He also submitted that the mandatory order 28 day requirements for the SSHD to find appropriate bail accommodation for a CBA applicant was not ‘reasonable or helpful’.

The Claimant is seeking to appeal this decision at the Court of Appeal.

Representation

Legal representation for the Claimant is Bahar Ata a Director and Farah Khan a trainee solicitor within the Public Law department of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, and Carine Patry, of Landmark Chambers.

Bahar Ata is a Fellow of the Chartered Institutes of the Legal Executives and a Director within the Duncan Lewis Public Law and Immigration Departments. Bahar specialises in Public Law with a niche practice in immigration and human rights judicial review claimant matters. She has more than 10 years’ experience representing vulnerable individuals in unlawful detention claims, challenges against the Competent Authority decisions in respect of trafficking matters, age assessments challenges and challenging removals to third countries under Dublin Regulations. Bahar has extensive experience of representing clients at the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

To contact Bahar, call 020 7014 7398 or email her at bahara@duncanlewis.com.

Find full details of this case on Bailii’s website here.