High Court: Julian B Knowles J, [2020] EWHC 1679 (Admin), 7 July 2020

The case was brought by a charitable adoption and fostering agency which sought judicial review of a report by Ofsted which found that its policy of accepting only heterosexual evangelical Christians as the potential carers of fostered children breached the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998, and required that Cornerstone alter the policy. Cornerstone, which had contractual relationships with a number of local authorities, challenged Ofsted’s findings that its carer recruitment policy involved unlawful discrimination because of sexual orientation under the EqA and the HRA, and unlawful discrimination on grounds of religion or belief contrary to Article 8 and 14 ECHR. It also claimed that Ofsted had discriminated against Cornerstone on grounds of religion. Julian B Knowles J accepted that Ofsted had erred in deciding that Cornerstone had discriminated against potential foster carers on grounds of religion in view of the defences  provided by the EqA, and because the discrimination was justifiable under Article 14. He otherwise rejected the Cornerstone’s claim. (Note that Cornerstone’s appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeal: [2021] EWCA Civ 1390, [2021] IRLR 993, and see subsequent post.) Continue reading →