Jurisdiction(s):
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Local government weekly legal briefing (England and Wales): social housing succession; Welsh RSL standards; planning fairness/EIR; CPO upheld; sibling foster care; DfE reforms; CQC; LGPS pooling—14 August 2025

Published on: 14 August 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Legal News

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Social housing
Planning
Children's social care
Education
Social care
Pensions
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Social housing

Discretionary succession policies and the meaning of ‘stepchild’ (Abdelrahman v London Borough of Islington)

The appeal in Abdelrahman v The Mayor and Burgesses of The London Borough of Islington examined whether, when construing the council’s discretionary succession policy, a person in the appellant’s position—being the child of a deceased tenant’s partner from an earlier relationship—falls within the term ‘stepchild’. Ms Abdelrahman’s mother and Mr Seales (the secure tenant) were in a committed relationship but did not marry or enter a civil partnership. The Court of Appeal upheld HHJ Bloom’s first‑instance ruling that ‘stepchild’ refers to the child of a person’s spouse or civil partner by a previous marriage or civil partnership. On that interpretation, Ms Abdelrahman did not come within the policy and had no entitlement to succeed...

Written by Sarah Salmon and Olivia Davies, barristers at Cornerstone Barristers. See News Analysis: Discretionary succession policies and the meaning of ‘stepchild’ (Abdelrahman v London Borough of Islington)...

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