Council agrees to review practices on assessment of disabled children – Local Government Lawyer

Posted November 28th, 2013 in children, complaints, disabled persons, local government, news, ombudsmen, social services by tracey

‘A local authority has agreed to pay out £5,000 and review its practices so that its assessment of disabled children fulfils its statutory duties, following an investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 27th November 2013

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

More children and housing duties – NearlyLegal

Posted November 25th, 2013 in appeals, children, disabled persons, housing, judicial review, local government, news by tracey

‘This was an an application for permission to appeal a judicial review decision on the interrelation of s.17 Children Act 1989, s.11 Children Act 2004 and the Housing Act 1996 parts 6 and 7.’

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NearlyLegal, 24th November 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Paddling pool victim seeks millions – Daily Telegraph

“Student Andrew Risk, who was paralysed after diving into 2ft of water, sues Rose Bruford drama school for ‘failing to control high jinx at summer ball’.”

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Daily Telegraph, 20th November 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The “bedroom tax” and human rights – Hardwicke Chambers

“At a time when Theresa May has declared that a future Conservative Government would repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 (‘the Act’) and the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, is leading a review of the UK’s relationship with the European Court on Human Rights, it is heartening that the judiciary is prepared to apply the Act in a manner which, surely, will attract widespread public support.”

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Hardwicke Chambers, 8th November 2013

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Mental impairment. How does the employer know? Cox v Essex County Fire and Rescue Service – 13 KBW Employment

“When facing a reasonable adjustments claim one of the first lines of defence for an employer is knowledge. An employer can avail itself of the defence of lack of knowledge of the disability (s.20 of Sch 8 of the Equality Act 2010) if it did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, that the person had a disability. The defence is an impenetrable shield and often forms a key battleground at trial.”

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13 KBW Employment, 18th November 2013

Source: www.13kbwemployment.wordpress.com

Government response and progress update to Equality and Human Rights Commission report ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ – Home Office

“In July 2012, the government published its response to the EHRC recommendations from its inquiry into disability related harassment. Our response set out our commitment to tackle disability related harassment and how we planned to take forward work to address the issues identified, including through ‘Challenge it, Report it, Stop it’, the government’s plan to tackle hate crime. This update provides an overview of the government’s specific achievements to address hate crime and disability-related harassment to date. Over the last year we have made significant progress in a number of areas to identify gaps and improve our response to disability equality, change negative attitudes and provide support for disabled people and disabled people’s organisations.”

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Home Office, 14th November 2013

Source: www.gov.uk/home-office

Miranda, Prisoner Votes & Judicial Review Myths – The Human Rights Roundup – UK Human Rights Blog

“This week, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill took evidence , and there were notable comments from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the body which monitors compliance with the European Court of Human Rights. Meanwhile, Baroness Hale weighed in on the proposed judicial review changes and, continuing along the judicial review vein, David Miranda (pictured) began his claim on Wednesday.”

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UK Human Rights Blog, 11th November 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Mother loses fight to home-school disabled son – Daily Telegraph

“A mother has lost her legal battle to be allowed to teach her disabled son at home after a senior judge ruled that he had to live 100 miles away to receive specialist education.”

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Daily Telegraph, 12th November 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Accept no substitutes – NearlyLegal

“Purewal v Ealing Borough Council (2013) CA Civ Div 05/11/2013.
This was Ealing’s appeal from a s.204 appeal brought by Ms Purewal. At the s.204 appeal, the Circuit Judge had varied Ealing’s review decision that Ms P was intentionally homeless and substituted a decision that she was unintentionally homeless.”

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NearlyLegal, 6th November 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Five disabled people win independent living fund appeal – The Guardian

“Five disabled people have won their court of appeal bid to overturn the government’s decision to abolish the independent living fund (ILF).”

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The Guardian, 6th November 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

You can’t be disabled when you’re dead – a footnote to R (Antoniou) – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted November 1st, 2013 in detention, disabled persons, inquests, mental health, news, suicide by sally

“A somewhat curious additional point arises out of the case of R (Antoniou) – see my earlier post for the main issue – in which the court decided that Article 2 ECHR does not require an independent investigation into deaths in state detention prior to a coroner’s inquest. There was therefore no obligation to ensure that there was an independent investigation into the suicide, or death resulting from self-harm, of a mentally ill person detained under Section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983. There is such an investigation when a prisoner commits suicide. The Claimant thought this smacked of discrimination against the mentally disabled. The Court disagreed – on the somewhat surprising ground that you can’t be disabled once you’re dead.”

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UK Human Rights Blog, 31st October 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Human rights – coming to a private care home near you? – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted October 29th, 2013 in bills, care homes, disabled persons, elderly, news by sally

“The amendment, moved by Lord Low of Dalston and supported by Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC and Lord Pannick QC, makes clear that a person who provides regulated ‘social care’ is to be taken for the purposes of subsection 6(3)(b) of the Human Rights Act 1998 to be exercising a function of a public nature.”

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UK Human Rights Blog, 28th October 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Deaf and blind man fears losing home over “bedroom tax” as disabled legal challenges mount – The Independent

Posted October 29th, 2013 in benefits, disabled persons, housing, news, social services by sally

“A deaf and blind man who uses his spare bedroom to store braille equipment fears that he could lose his home due to the ‘bedroom tax’ as lawyers warned that the controversial measure is having a discriminatory impact on the disabled.”

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The Independent, 28th October 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

A modern British murder: Vigilante neighbours face jail after convictions over murder of disabled man Bijan Ebrahimi wrongly accused of paedophilia – The Independent

“The two men will be sentenced next month after admitting their roles in the death of the 44-year-old Iranian national, who was described by his family as a ‘caring, loving and unselfish man’. Three police officers have also been suspended as an inquiry continues into how the Avon and Somerset force dealt with Mr Ebrahimi’s requests for help after the abuse began. Six civilian call handlers are set to be questioned by the police complaints watchdog as it investigates whether his cries for help were taken seriously. Bristol City Council, which housed Mr Ebrahimi, has launched its own inquiry into what went wrong.”

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The Independent, 28th October 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Woman who ‘cannot work because of a shoe allergy’ sees benefits stopped – Daily Telegraph

“A woman who claimed £100,000 in disability benefits because of a shoe allergy must return to work, officials say.”

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Daily Telegraph, 24th October 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Ofcom to monitor quality of TV subtitling – BBC News

Posted October 17th, 2013 in complaints, disabled persons, media, news by sally

“Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom will begin a regular audit of the quality of broadcasters’ subtitles from next year.”

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BBC News, 16th October 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘Pure evil’: 10-year-old deaf and mute girl trafficked to UK, kept in cellar and raped by pensioner – The Independent

Posted October 17th, 2013 in benefits, children, disabled persons, fraud, news, rape, trafficking in human beings by sally

“A pensioner who trafficked a 10-year-old deaf and mute girl into Britain, keeping her in his cellar to claim benefits, was convicted yesterday of repeatedly raping her.”

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The Independent, 17th October 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

The (absence of) reasons in Redcar – NearlyLegal

Posted October 7th, 2013 in appeals, benefits, disabled persons, housing, landlord & tenant, news by sally

“You may well have seen or heard press stories on a First Tier tribunal bedroom tax appeal decision in Redcar and Cleveland. There has been a lot of excitable comment about it representing a ‘landmark appeal‘ and ‘hope for 440,000 disabled’. Even the tenant’s landlord, who supported her, described it as ‘fantastic news’ which ‘which should give hope to hundreds of thousands of disabled people right across the country’.”

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NearlyLegal, 5th October 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

And another one… – Nearly Legal

“Another bedroom tax judicial review has just been issued.”

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Nearly Legal 30th September 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

Westminster clear up – NearlyLegal

Posted September 30th, 2013 in appeals, benefits, disabled persons, housing, landlord & tenant, local government, news by sally

“There has been a lot of excitement about the Westminster FTT bedroom tax appeal by Mr Surinder Lall (eg Guardian, CAB). As I mentioned in my last post on the FTT bedroom tax decisions, it was hard to tell what had happened by looking at the decision itself and the press reports. Some, like the CAB, have taken the view that it was Mr Lall’s use of the second room to hold and use equipment related to his disability (he is blind) that was the basis of the decision. If so, this would be a ‘current use’ decision and highly significant, in view of the DWP’s position that ‘tenant use’ should not be a factor.”

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NearlyLegal, 28th September 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk