Cate Searle

Solicitor & Director & Head of Community Care Law

“I founded our Community Care Law Services for Professional Deputies, which won the Law Society Excellence Award for Business Development in October 2016. In addition to my Court of Protection litigation caseload, I run training for other professionals across England in all aspects of health and social care law.”

Intro

I am a recognised expert and lead our Community Care Law team. We are one of a small number of non-legal aid solicitors specialising in Health and Social Care Law and Community Care Law.

We have built an expanding practice in this area which has given our firm a nationwide profile. I guest lecture for MBL, the Law Society and Solicitors for the Elderly and run in-house training for other legal professionals. I contribute to the Elderly Client Handbook published by the Law Society in association with SFE.

I am also the director responsible for practice management and financial and regulatory matters and I manage the firm’s community engagement strategy.

Expertise

I have particular expertise in:

Services for Professional Deputies – including:
- Expert Part 35 Reports about the cost of care and health and welfare issues within Personal Injury litigation
- Casework support on Community Care Law and public law issues for Professional Deputy teams, including Double Recovery
- Assisting with preparation for the OPG Professional Deputy Standards Audit
- In-house training for Professional Deputy teams on the Care Act paying for care rules, NHS Continuing Healthcare and Health & Welfare litigation
Planning and Paying for Care, including funding disputes with Social Services, financial assessments and deprivation of capital
Challenges against inadequate health and social care packages, particularly for care at home
Safeguarding adults at risk including Court of Protection Applications
Court of Protection litigation on Health & Welfare and Property & Finance matters
Mental Capacity Law, including:
Lasting Power of Attorney and Deputy applications (contested and non-contested)
Best Interest decisions
NHS Continuing Healthcare

Clients

I act for the legal profession which includes Professional Deputies & Attorneys, personal injury lawyers and private client teams. I am also instructed by lay Deputies and Attorneys, particularly in safeguarding issues and care funding disputes for their vulnerable relatives.

I work with a wide range of clients of all ages and many have disabilities or caring responsibilities. As part of our community engagement strategy, I provide free legal advice at Age UK, the Alzheimer’s Society and the Carers Centre.

The 2024 Legal 500 write up for Cate and her Community Care Law Team states: ‘They have carved out a niche practice helping clients and professionals fight for the rights of individuals. They are influencers in change and a go-to for comment on any new developments. Cate Searle is unashamedly the market leader and go-to person for complex funding cases’.

Recent highlights

Our firm winning the Law Society Excellence Award in Excellence in Business Development in October 2016, for our Services for Professional Deputies – a casework support and training service lead by my colleague Paula Jones to assist private client solicitors to navigate their way around the Care Act 2014, employment law and demonstrate compliance with the OPG Professional Deputy Standards
Being involved in a case where the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman’s decision resulted in Social Services having to pay the actual costs of our client’s care at home package, rather than imposing an arbitrary ceiling on the cost
Contributing to an earlier Local Government Ombudsman Public Report which addressed how Social Services should deal with cases about joint beneficial ownership
Securing over £400,000 for a client whose mother had wrongly been required to fund her own nursing home care
Securing over £300,000 for a man who had been wrongly charged for his care, which should have been fully funded under section 117 Mental Health Act aftercare funding
Contributing to the Law Society’s Elderly Client Handbook (6^th Edition)
Writing for PS Magazine, the Law Society’s specialist publication for private client lawyers; and providing commentary for Radio 4 File on 4 programmes on social care and mental capacity issues
Going to the Court of Protection to remove an abusive adult son and his family from his vulnerable mother’s home, so that she could return to live there
Reuniting a vulnerable older lady with her three adult children and her grandchildren, after three years of separation imposed by her husband in the Court of Protection
Assisting families and vulnerable clients to swiftly resolve difficult safeguarding concerns at local level
Lecturing on Community Care Law issues for MBL and writing opinion pieces for the Elderly Client Adviser and Private Client magazine
Providing tailor made training sessions for SFE, STEP, SOLLA and other professional organisations
Winning the Business in the Community Award for our pioneering community engagement strategy in the Sussex Business Awards and being shortlisted two years in a row for the Law Society Excellence Awards
Being shortlisted for the Association of Women Solicitors’ Solicitor of the Year Managing a Small Practice award in 2010.

Qualifications

I have a BA Hons in Developmental Psychology from the University of Sussex. While managing a local mental health service, I studied part-time for the law conversion course at the University of Brighton where I met my co-director Fiona Martin. I completed the solicitors’ law finals course at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Other experience

Having worked for several years in Health and Social Services, including in a number of psychiatric hospitals, before training as a solicitor, I have skills and experience that directly benefit my Community Care clients. This is reflected in the outcomes I achieve for them.

In addition, having worked in the voluntary sector as an advisor before qualifying as a solicitor, I understand the challenges voluntary sector organisations face.

I have a life too

I enjoy long cycle rides in the countryside with friends and family, usually followed by a hearty pub lunch. Otherwise I relax by reading Scandinavian crime thrillers or listening to music. I love to travel and am fortunate to have a number of friends and relatives living abroad to provide an interesting range of holiday destinations. I enjoy debating about something or nothing with friends over a good meal.

Get in touch with Cate

01273 609911

cate@ms-solicitors.co.uk

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Martin Searle Solicitors