Tag: Zoe Leventhal

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Akhtar

Posted on | by Aileen McColgan KC | Leave a Comment on Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Akhtar

Court of Appeal, Underhill VP, Macur and Moylan LJJ, [2021] EWCA Civ 1353, 10 September 2021

The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal against the decision of the Upper Tribunal that the exclusion from entitlement to Bereavement Payment (“BP”) under ss 36 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 of those whose marriages were recognised for religious purposes, and not in English law, breached Article 14 read with A1P1. There was some disagreement between the Court of Appeal judges as to the law relating to polygamy but all were agreed that the claimant was not analogously situated to someone whose religious marriage (conducted abroad) was so recognised, further that the discrimination was justified in any event, the decision of the Supreme Court in R (SC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions having little impact in this case. Continue reading →

R (Rowley) v Minister for the Cabinet Office

Posted on | by Aileen McColgan KC | Leave a Comment on R (Rowley) v Minister for the Cabinet Office

Administrative court; Fordham J, [2021] EWHC 2108, 28 July 2021

In this case the High Court (Fordham J) ruled that the respondent had discriminated against the claimant, who was profoundly deaf, by failing to provide of British sign language (“BSL”) interpreters for Government live briefings to the public about the Covid-19 pandemic on 21 September 2020 and 12 October 2020. The claimant challenged the failures on those occasions and also sought to challenge the respondent’s continuing refusal to use ‘on-platform’ as distinct from ‘in-screen’ BSL interpreters for briefings. The claimant sought to establish failures of the PSED imposed by s149 of the Equality Act 2010 in respect of the  defendant’s ongoing approach to briefings, as well as failures of the duty to make reasonable adjustments imposed by ss20 and 29(7)(a) of the Act. The PSED claim failed as did the reasonable adjustment challenge to ongoing (‘in-screen’ BSL) briefings. The decision includes a comprehensive discussion of the leading authorities on disability discrimination in the context of services/public authorities. Continue reading →

R (SH) v Norfolk County Council & Anor

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Administrative Court: Griffiths J, [2020] EWHC 3436 (Admin), 18 December 2020

This is a carefully reasoned and lucid decision from Griffiths J on the application of Article 8 and /or A1P1 read with Article 14 ECHR. Continue reading →

R (DMA, AHK, BK and ELN) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R (AA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

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Administrative Court: Knowles CBE J, [2020] EWHC 3416 (Admin), 14 December 2020

This was a claim brought by asylum seekers who, their claims having been rejected by the defendant, were not permitted to work or to access public funds while they awaited the defendant’s consideration of their further representations. The defendant had accepted that she was under a duty to provide accommodation or arrange for the provision of accommodation to the claimants under s4(2) Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (“the 1999 Act”). Continue reading →