A SEVERELY disabled man has launched a landmark legal challenge to force a council to pay for his round-the-clock care.

Lawyers acting for Luke Davey – a quadriplegic who cannot make a drink or go to the toilet without help – yesterday revealed he will take Oxfordshire County Council to the Court of Appeal after it tried to cut the amount it paid for his support.

The 39-year-old, whose disabilities are a result of a virus he contracted as a child, also has cerebral palsy and requires 24-hour support from a team of carers, as well as an adapted home.

The county council wants to cut his care package to fund only 17.5 hours per day, but now a judge has said a judicial review of the decision should be held.

Until the verdict it also means the council must go back to paying a higher amount to wheelchair-bound Mr Davey, who said he had previously been left "devastated" by the cuts.

He told the Oxford Mail: "I have been a wreck. I couldn't sleep properly for months because I was so worried about it.

"I just want to be able to live the way I want to live."

For 20 years Mr Davey had been living in his own home in Burcot with support from a team of seven carers, at a cost of £1,651 per week.

But in July 2015 the council said it would reduce this to £961 per week over a six-month period, later saying this would reduce further to £950 per week by May 1, 2016.

Mr Davey's solicitors argued he could receive 24-hour care with £1,250 per week and took the council to court when bosses rejected this.

His dad Tony says the reduced hours are a worry because when Luke is alone he cannot use the toilet or do other activities safely.

The 76-year-old said: "Some of the suggestions the council made for when he was on his own were crazy.

"They said he could have a dog to get him things, or a tea urn so that he could pour his own drinks – but he's registered blind and wouldn't be able to use it on his own."

For the past year the council has paid Mr Davey less for his care, leaving his mum Jasmine Davey – who has stage four skin cancer – to help out for increasing amounts of time.

Mrs Davey, 75, said yesterday: "Luke is extremely intelligent but he cannot do anything himself. Over the past 20 years his care package has allowed him to have a good life, but these cuts meant we did not know what would happen.

"We looked after him before he lived independently and I have been able to help out again but it is very tiring and with my illness you just don't know what the future holds.

"They say we can leave him longer than two hours on his own but the truth is we can't. It's very upsetting to think he can't be independent and safe.

"It has been a long and hard fight to get back to where we were before the cuts were made, but this has given us a little bit of hope."

Rebecca Chapman, Mr Davey's solicitor at Irwin Mitchell, said an assessment carried out by the council in April 2015 found he needed 24-hour care and that a separate independent report found any reductions to this would have "a detrimental impact on his wellbeing and independence".

She added: "Luke can make his own decisions but requires assistance with all of his personal care needs and activities of daily living. He has decided he does not want to be forced to spend time alone."

Responding to the legal challenge, a county council spokesman said yesterday: "It would be inappropriate to comment at this stage pending consideration of this case by the court.

"In the meantime we continue to work with Mr Davey and his family."

The judicial review hearing is expected to take place at the High Court in London in about three months, Mr Davey said.