Upholding the Rule of Law to protect the rights of vulnerable children

Using specialist legal advice to inform policy

PLP’s Legal Director advised the children’s charity Article 39 about the lawfulness of the controversial “innovation clauses” in the Children and Social Work Bill 2016. The clauses would have allowed the Government to exempt local authorities from their statutory duties to vulnerable children in order to “test new ways of working”.  Article 39 used PLP’s advice to inform its successful advocacy and campaigning around the clauses which were defeated in the House of Lords and dropped by the Government when the Bill returned to the Commons.