Legal duties on public officials to protect vulnerable people are proliferating, but are they working?

Title: The increase in statutory duties on public officials to protect vulnerable people

Abstract: In recent decades, the concept of ‘vulnerability’ has gained increasing prominence in administrative law. While much of the existing research has focused on how courts have engaged with this idea, our research explored how the increase of vulnerability as an administrative law concept has occurred through its use in legislation to impose duties on public officials. Our research found that there has, across the last three decades, been an increase in legislation which imposes upon public officials duties to protect vulnerable people, particularly in legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament. While these statutory provisions are a growing part of administrative law’s regulation of the relationship between public bodies and vulnerable people, there is little explanation for why this increase occurred. More empirical evidence on the implementation and impact of these statutory duties is also needed.

Author: Angela Paul, Joe Tomlinson, Elizabeth Cook, Simon Halliday, Richard Martin, Jed Meers, and Ruth Weir

Publication: ESRC Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre, Policy Report

Link to paper: here.