The High Court ruled that payments by the Health Service Executive (HSE) under nursing home support schemes did not defray the expenses of Glendale Nursing Home. The ruling means the home’s property did not qualify for the exemption from rates claimed under the Valuation Act 2001.
Mr Justice Birmingham gave the judgment on 15 June 2012 in a case stated by the Valuation Tribunal. The Tribunal had decided that the property fell within paragraph 14(b) of Schedule 4, which concerns premises used to care for elderly people by a body whose expenses are defrayed wholly or mainly from Exchequer money. But it had found there was insufficient evidence that Glendale’s expenses were met wholly or mainly from that source, and refused relief.
Glendale appealed on questions of law. Its case before the Tribunal was that more than half of its income came from HSE payments, including payments under the Nursing Home Subvention Scheme and the Nursing Homes Support Scheme. The Commissioner of Valuation argued that the support was intended to help individuals pay for care, rather than meet the expenses of the nursing home.
The High Court said the schemes focused on the person needing care. Under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, an applicant’s contribution was assessed and the State paid the balance; individuals could choose among public, voluntary and approved private homes. The court said that, although HSE payments contributed to the cost of a person’s care, describing them as defraying Glendale’s expenses would be a strained use of language.
The judge also addressed the “wholly or mainly” requirement. Glendale’s evidence concerned the share of its income received from the HSE, reported as ranging from 60.51% to 51.92% over a particular period. The court said income figures alone did not show whether or to what extent the home’s expenses were met. It did not decide a numerical threshold for “mainly”; it said that evidence showing more than half of expenses were met from a particular source could support that conclusion, but there was no such evidence here.
The court answered that the HSE was not defraying the nursing home’s expenses and that the property did not fall within paragraph 14(b). It said a separate question about whether the HSE was “the State” no longer arose because the parties no longer disputed that HSE payments were equivalent to State payments. The judgment records those answers to the Tribunal’s stated questions; it does not set out a separate order on costs.