Mohammed v Barking & Dagenham LBC
Ms Mohammed was a council tenant in Westminster. She was evicted for rent arrears and applied as homeless. Westminster provided her and her children with accommodation in the Barking area, but later withdrew it. Ms Mohammed applied to Barking & Dagenham council for help. Barking took the view that the family were not its responsibility. The Children Act 1989 said that the council responsible was the one that had the children "within their area".

On a judicial review, the judge decided that the correct approach was to identify where the children were physically present. On that basis the answer was Barking. The judge stressed two additional points: Where more than one council was involved, there should be cooperation and one authority should not try and pass on its responsibility to another; and that the children's needs came first, with any issue about resources sorted out later.