Children’s right to sue for social workers’ negligence: the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998

In D v East Berkshire Community NHS Trust [2004] QB 558; [2003] EWCA Civ 1151 and JD (FC) v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust [2005] 2 AC 373; [2005] UKHL 23 the English judiciary held that children wrongly diagnosed as having been abused or mistakenly taken into care can now sue the social workers responsible. Phillips LJ ruled that the House of Lords ruling decision in X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council [1995] 2 AC 6331995 which barred claims against social workers in child abuse cases could not survive the Human Rights Act 1998 (UK). This article examines the development of the law in this area and the implications of this recent landmark decision for children, and their parents, who have suffered as a result of local authority negligence.