The claimant sought a declaration that the duty set out in the 1995 Act applies to the discharge of duties, and to the exercise of powers, by local housing authorities under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 being the part entitled ‘Homelessness’. The defendant argued that (1) the section concerned only the general formulation of policy, (2) Part VII provided a complete and self contained scheme for the discharge of functions which itself addressed the needs of the disabled, and (3) the duty only became relevant at the stage at which the housing authority was considering the provision of housing.
Held: Each argument failed. Section 49A applied to the exercise of all the authority’s functions under Part VII including assessment and review, and only imposed a generalised duty as regards the formulation of policy rather than a duty to be implemented in relation to action taken or to be taken by a public authority in particular cases. The reviewing officer was in breach of the duty owed because she had failed ‘to take due steps to take account of a disability on the part of the applicant’.
Mummery, Longmore, Wilson LJJ
[2010] EWCA Civ 1104, [2010] PTSR 565, [2010] NPC 98, (2010) 13 CCL Rep 650, [2010] BLGR 944, [2011] HLR 3
Bailii
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 49A(1), Housing Act 1996
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Castle and Others v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis Admn 8-Sep-2011
The claimants, all under 17 years old, took a peaceful part in a substantial but disorderly demonstration in London. The police decided to contain the section of crowd which included the claimants. The claimants said that the containment of children . .
Cited – Hotak and Others v London Borough of Southwark and Another SC 13-May-2015
The court was asked as to the duty of local housing authorities towards homeless people who claim to be ‘vulnerable’, and therefore to have ‘a priority need’ for the provision of housing accommodation under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. Those . .
Cited – Jewish Rights Watch (T/A Jewish Human Rights Watch), Regina (on The Application of) v Leicester City Council Admn 28-Jun-2016
The claimant challenged the legaity of resolutions passed by three local authorities which were critical of the State of Israel. They said that the resolultions infringed the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the 2010 Act, and also . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Discrimination, Housing
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.424980
