“Two people with mental health problems, who claimed the test for sickness benefit would discriminate against them, have won their legal challenge.”
BBC News, 22nd May 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A legal test is set to begin into the government’s decision to cut housing benefit for recipients living in properties that have a spare room.”
BBC News, 15th May 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The concept of ‘disability’ in Council Directive 2000/78/EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation included a condition caused by an illness medically diagnosed as curable or incurable where that illness entailed a limitation which resulted in particular from physical, mental or psychological impairments which in interaction with various barriers might hinder the full and effective participation of the person concerned in professional life on an equal basis with other workers, and where the limitation was a long term one.”
WLR Daily, 11th April 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“This paper sets out an overview of exclusions law, focusing in particular on permanent exclusions from maintained schools and disability discrimination claims.”
Full story (PDF)
11 KBW, 3rd April 2013
Source: www.11kbw.com
“With the beginning of the bedroom tax looming up for April and upwards of 700,000 households affected, I’ve been thinking about the position when the inevitable rent arrears possessions start to appear – probably by about October – and also whether the statute itself is open to challenge.”
NearlyLegal, 10th February 2013
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
“Tens of thousands of people with schizophrenia are being denied the chance to work because of ‘severe discrimination’, a report has found.”
The Independent, 11th February 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has helped a disabled man win £1,500 pounds in an out of court settlement after he was refused access to a nightclub and then taunted by staff.”
Equality and Human Rights Commission, 6th February 2013
Source: www.equalityhumanrights.com
“The father of an autistic boy restrained by Metropolitan Police officers after he jumped into a swimming pool has attacked the force for challenging a ruling against them.”
BBC News, 22nd January 2013
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“In Pieretti v. LB Enfield [2011] 2 All ER 642 the Court of Appeal held that a local authority in exercising its powers under Part VII Housing Act 1996 (Homelessness) was carrying out a ‘function’ for the purposes of s.49A. It was therefore an obligation on the Local Authority to have ‘due regard’ to the factors set out in the section and, in the case of homelessness, in particular to have ‘due regard’ to ‘the need to take steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities’. Moreover, this duty arose irrespective of whether or not the applicant, or their advisers, had raised disability as an issue.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 30th November 2012
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
“A group of care homes has won a legal challenge against their local council, after accusing it of setting care fees too low and putting elderly and frail people at serious risk.”
Daily Telegraph, 8th November 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The ruling in the recent case brought by the late Tony Nicklinson and another man, known only as ‘Martin’, who both had ‘locked-in’ syndrome, before the High Court ([2012] EWHC 2381 (Admin)), has raised many complicated questions about death in our society. The most difficult of these questions has been to what extent it is for an individual to decide that they wish their life to be ended. The particular complexity in this specific case was that, as both men had ‘locked-in’ syndrome, they were physically incapable of committing suicide, even with the assistance of another person (a situation which no longer carries automatic prosecution under guidelines issued recently by the DPP; Policy for Prosecutors in Respect of Cases of Encouraging or Assisting Suicide, February 2010,).”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 24th September 2012
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
“A man with Down’s syndrome is suing an NHS trust over a hospital’s decision to issue a do-not-resuscitate order giving his disability as one of the reasons.”
BBC News, 13th September 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“It’s a scene which will be familiar to many housing law practitioners: a tenant turns up to a possession hearing, seeks representation from the duty solicitor, seeks to argue that there are issues of disability discrimination and human rights issues which make it necessary for proceedings to be adjourned, detailed directions to be given and a lengthy wait before arguments on the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998 can be thrashed out in depth at a possession hearing.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 31st May 2012
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Local Government Law Update: 21 May (PDF)
Local Government Law Update: 22 May (PDF)
11 KBW, May 2012
Source: www.11kbw.com
“The statutory criteria for calculating housing benefit for tenants in the private rented sector based on an entitlement to a one bedroom rate discriminated against the severely disabled and there was no justification in their case for continuation of the single bedroom rules.”
WLR Daily, 15th May 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“In the same week that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan-Smith, announced his intention to implement sweeping reforms of the current system of disability benefits, the Court of Appeal has ruled that housing benefit rules were discriminatory against disabled people, in breach of Article 14 read with Article 1 Protocol 1 of the European Convention.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 19th May 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“Desmond Rutledge explains a landmark Court of Appeal decision upholding the rights of the severely disabled.”
Garden Court Chambers Blog, 15th May 2012
Source: www.gclaw.wordpress.com
“The Treasury failed to consider how crucial policies would affect women, disabled people and ethnic minorities before the 2010 spending review, according to a report by the equality watchdog.”
The Guardian, 14th May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Earlier this month the Association of British Insurers announced the latest extension on the moratorium on the use of genetic test results for insurance purposes. But is this ‘Concordat’ sufficient protection? Genetic technologies are becoming increasingly available and profound questions are arising in relation to life and health insurance and employability as genetic screening becomes cheaper and widespread.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 9th May 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
