The Court of Appeal has ruled that parents can sometimes consent on behalf of their 16 and 17 year old children to care arrangements that would otherwise be a deprivation of liberty.

The decision overturns a ruling in the Court of Protection that Birmingham City Council should have sought a deprivation of liberty order once the teenager in the case, who has autism and challenging behaviour, reached his sixteenth birthday. Birmingham says that could potentially have affected all children aged 16 and 17 living in care settings that restrict their liberty – with significant resource implications for councils forced into frequent trips to court.