Care cuts legal case is won by Lancashire County Council

Two elderly disabled women have failed in their legal challenge against Lancashire County Council's budget cuts which could slash care for adults.

The two women in their 60s and 70s, who cannot be named, sought a judicial review of the budget in the High Court. Their lawyer had argued that the budget would breach the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

But Mr Justice Parker said the budget must be seen in the context of the government's 2010 spending review. Lancashire County Council has to cut its spending by 26% over four years, prompting a reduction of £71.6m between 2011 and 2012.

The women were backed by the National Autistic Society, deaf and blind charity SENSE, and by Disability Equality North West. Their QC, Ian Wise, argued that the county council's budgetary proposals breached its obligations to the women under the DDA.

But the judge said: "The economic reality was that to meet imperative needs of reducing expenditure it would be extraordinarily difficult to avoid an adverse effect on adult social care."