Shaun Livingston

Shaun qualified in 2013, and joined TV Edwards in October 2020. He acts in Court of Protection welfare cases where individuals lack capacity to make their own decisions, and for clients with a wide variety of community care needs, including under the Care Act 2014, Children Act 1989 and Mental Health Act 1983. Shaun is regularly instructed by the Official Solicitor and accepts referrals from a range of advocates and charities.

Shaun represents children in need and care leavers who require a range of support and disabled adults whose needs have not been met by their local authority. He is experienced in challenging unlawful policies and practices on public law grounds, and bringing human rights claims against public authorities where they have violated his clients’ rights. Shaun acted for the claimants in ZB (1) & DB (2) v London Borough of Croydon [2023] EWHC 489 (Admin), securing residential educational placements for two children with complex disabilities, as well as damages of £10,000 each to compensate them for breaches of their human right to education. Such awards are unusual and rarely reported.

In a previous role, Shaun assisted in a judicial review of Surrey County Council’s decision to cut £21m from its budget for children with special educational needs. Shaun was also the solicitor with conduct in the case of DL (by her litigation friend the Official Solicitor v London Borough of Enfield [2019] EWCOP B1, in which he successfully resisted an application by the local authority to dismiss the proceedings; had the application been successful, it would have made it significantly harder for individuals deprived of their liberty in care settings to be able to access their rights to challenge that deprivation in the Court of Protection.

Shaun takes a particular interest in acting for care leavers who are often left without the necessary support to allow for a successful transition to adulthood, and adults with complex needs for care and support that may not be recognised by their local authorities.

In January 2022, Shaun was appointed an Accredited Legal Representative by the Law Society, a qualification which allows him to act for incapacitousclients directly in the Court of Protection without a litigation friend. He is also a qualified Legal Aid supervisor in the field of community care.

Notable cases

• Achieving a move to a residential educational placement for two children with complex, profound disabilities, as well as £10,000 damages for each child.
• Securing a move to an expensive brain injury rehabilitation unit for a client in the Court of Protection who had been inappropriately placed in a nursing home for people with dementia. After the client’s rehabilitation came to an end, Shaun successfully advocated for him to move to a smaller, more person-centred placement with a care plan rooted in promoting his independence as far as possible.
• Successfully resisting an application in the Court of Protection by a local authority for his client to move out of his home to a supported living placement. Shaun was able to ensure that the client was able to remain in his home in accordance with his wishes, and that significant items of disrepair in his property which had rendered it unsafe to live in were rectified at the expense of the local authority.
• Obtaining a decision from the Court of Protection in a contested hearing that an elderly man with dementia would receive his vaccinations against COVID-19 during the height of lockdown.
• Persuading a local authority to exercise its discretion and fund a care leaver’s application for British citizenship, which he considered vital to his sense of identity and security.
• Achieving a significant damages settlement in respect of a client who had been unlawfully deprived of his liberty when a child in his home as a result of a disproportionate care plan put in place for him by his local authority, who should have applied to the Court for authorisation at the time it formulated the care plan. The Court found that the client’s Article 5 and Article 8 rights as protected by the European Convention on Human Rights had been breached, and ordered the local authority to prepare lawful community care assessments and care plans for the client.
• Ensuring a child who was unable to live with her parents received suitable accommodation and care from her local authority under section 20 Children Act 1989.
• Securing a local authority’s agreement to reverse a decision to move an asylum seeking care leaver out of his accommodation and into a shared house in a different area. The client had built up strong community ties in his local area and was distraught at the prospect of moving into shared accommodation that was not suitable for his needs.
• Obtaining a move for a family with No Recourse to Public Funds from accommodation infested with cockroaches to a clean, more spacious property within proximity of his 15 year old client’s school. The previous accommodation was two hours away from the client’s school, leaving her exhausted and hampering her progress in her GCSE year.
• Successfully challenging a decision by a local authority to end the accommodation and support provided to an adult with renal failure without secure immigration status and No Recourse to Public Funds. The local authority had argued that the adult could safely return to his country of origin, but he had not been there in decades and the vital dialysis keeping him alive in the UK was not available in his country of origin.

Shaun is a member of Young Legal Aid Lawyers

Recommendations

Through out contacting your solicitors they have been very helpful and supportive. And very responsive in completing the case to a good outcome. Thank you Jamie Callaghan and Shaun Livingston.

Without Shaun my mother wouldn’t have returned safely home with a proper care plan. He was caring, understanding, considerate, he kept us updated with everything and whenever we needed him he was there. He is an excellent lawyer who goes above and beyond for his client.

It was a great pleasure working with you, me and my kids appreciate all your hard work.

It was a pleasure to have you as my solicitor, thank you so much, you really helped my case a lot and were kind and a genuine person.

My solicitor has given me a honest assessment of my case. [Shaun] is easy to talk too readily available and nothing is too much trouble… I feel I have the best chance with Shaun as my solicitor.