David Sandeman Boath v. Perth and Kinross Council [2009] CSOH 66

This cause was remitted from Perth Sheriff Court and raised important questions concerning the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002. It was submitted on behalf of the pursuer that a range of services provided by the defenders to him and to his late wife should have been provided free of charge by virtue of the provision of the 2002 Act and the pursuer sought reimbursement of the charges paid. It was submitted on behalf of the defenders that certain of the services were properly chargeable and they defended the action and counter claimed for additional sums due by the pursuer on the assumption that the services were chargeable. The two issues to be considered by the court here were:- (1) "has the pursuer averred a relevant case that under the 2002 Act the defenders were not entitled to charge for services provided on account of their customer's / client's substantial immobility by way of laundry, housework and meals on wheels?; and (2) "In any event, has the pursuer averred a relevant case that under the 2002 Act the defenders were not entitled to charge for the element of the charge for meals on wheels that is attributable to the preparation of food?" Here the court considered those two questions in light of the construction of the legislation and the intention of Parliament in enacting the legislation and whether food preparation, meals on wheels, laundry and housework were chargeable.