This, as it seems to me, is the fallacy which lies at the heart of the Council's argument. The point can be illustrated by a simple example. Suppose there are two people with identical disabilities, living in identical circumstances, but in different parts of the country. His needs remain exactly the same. They cannot be affected by the local authority's inability to meet those needs.
Every child needs a new pair of shoes from time to time.
The need is not the less because his parents cannot afford them. This is the departmental way of describing the standard against which an individual's needs are judged. Local authorities are encouraged to publish their own eligibility criteria. The Council has not fallen behind in this respect. There are elaborate tables included among our papers in which different degrees of disability are set against varying degrees of isolation from the community and other relevant factors.