Martin Searle Solicitors

Home › About Us › Meet The Team › Chloe Scarr

Chloe Scarr

Associate Solicitor

“I am an associate solicitor in the Community Care Law team and lead our team’s Services for Professional Deputies.’’

Intro

Based at our Brighton and Hove office, I represent Professional and Lay Deputies and Attorneys, family members, carers and service users across England. My expertise covers the full range of community care law advice we provide. Day to day, as well as managing my own caseload I supervise some members of the Community Care Law team and I am part of the management team.

My role also involves leading our Services for Professional Deputies and Attorneys which includes providing bespoke in-house training for other legal professionals and speaking at conferences for both legal and financial professionals. In addition, I am a guest lecturer for various professional learning and development providers including MBL and SFE, covering health and social care funding and Court of Protection litigation.

Expertise

I have particular expertise in:

Services for Professional Deputies, including
- Casework support on Health and Social Care Law issues for Professional Deputy teams
- Assisting with preparation for the OPG Professional Deputy Standards Audits
- In-house training for Professional Deputy teams on the Care Act paying for care rules, NHS Continuing Healthcare and Health & Welfare litigation.
- Expert Reports about Court of Protection costs within Personal Injury litigation
Planning and Paying for Care, including care and funding disputes with Social Services under the Care Act 2014, s117 aftercare disputes, challenging financial assessments and deprivation of capital cases
Mental Capacity Law, including:
- Lasting Power of Attorney and Deputy applications (contested and non-contested)
- Safeguarding issues including Court of Protection Applications
- Litigation and advocacy in Court of Protection contested proceedings
- Best Interest processes
- Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
Safe discharge from hospital
NHS Continuing Healthcare
Personal Health Budgets and Direct Payments

Clients

I act for the legal profession, specifically Professional Deputies and Attorneys and private client teams. I represent lay Deputies and Attorneys who require help and advice in various issues in Health and Social Care Law. I am also involved in our local community engagement work and have an active role with various local charities and voluntary organisations, including running bespoke Community Care Law training courses for the voluntary and charitable sectors.

Recent highlights

Winning the Law Society Excellence Award in Excellence in Business Development in October 2016 for the Community Care Law team’s Services for Professional Deputies – a casework support and training service to assist private clients to navigate their way around the Care Act 2014 and demonstrated compliance with the OPG Professional Deputy Standards.
GMP, Re [2015] EWCOP 67 – successfully representing client in the Court of Protection regarding her objected Property & Finance Deputy Application; securing a Health & Welfare Deputyship without further recourse to the Court.
Ensuring a client’s elderly mother was safely discharged from hospital with a six-week intermediate care at home package for 24/7 care, following a period of unauthorised deprivation of liberty in hospital.
Securing NHS Continuing Healthcare for an Attorney client to the value of £70,000 per year.
Assisting a client in removing a Care Agency from her father’s home due to Safeguarding concerns.
Successfully arguing a joint beneficial interest case with a Council, who omitted to correctly apply CRAG to the facts of the case, reducing the value of the beneficial interest to less than 20% of the resident’s share of the market value.
Securing s117 aftercare funding with a 24-hour care at home package for a client’s mother, who had been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, preventing an unnecessary move into a Residential Care Setting in line with the mother’s Best Interests.
Winning a dispute against a Council who failed to properly assess a client’s mother’s needs vs. preferences – thus securing a reimbursement of over £90,000 to my client for the Third Party Top Up payments that he had been told to pay.
Numerous successful NHS CHC retrospective review claims including £29,000 to a client’s mother for retrospective funding, following a successful appeal for the mother’s current funding.

Qualifications

I graduated from the University of Brighton with First-class honours in Criminology and Sociology in 2008. In 2009 I took the law conversion course at the University of Brighton. I graduated with a Commendation in 2010 and was awarded ‘The Sweet & Maxwell Law Prize for the Best Postgraduate Diploma in Law Student 2010′. I then completed the Legal Practice Course and graduated from BPP Law School with a Commendation in 2011. I qualified in January 2014.

I am a fully accredited member of Solicitors for the Elderly and a member of the STEP Mental Capacity Global Special Interest Group.

Other experience

As well as providing advice on Health and Social Care Law issues, I have experience in attending various meetings with CCGs and Local Authorities. I have represented clients at strategy, round table and review meetings, and I am experienced in assisting and advising clients in preparation for Best Interest Meetings relating to close friends or relatives who have lost the capacity to make decisions for themselves.

I also have personal experience as an Attorney and carer for a relative which has deepened my understanding and knowledge of these roles and of Alzheimer’s disease.

I have a life too

I enjoy cooking and experimenting with new recipes. I attend yoga classes and play tennis. Socialising and spending time with my family are also important to me and I think Brighton is a perfect setting for this.

Get in touch with Chloe

chloe@ms-solicitors.co.uk Twitter Linked In