Tag: Benefits

M, Regina (on the Application of) v Slough Borough Council: HL 30 Jul 2008

The House was asked ‘whether a local social services authority is obliged, under section 21(1)(a) of the 1948 Act, to arrange (and pay for) residential accommodation for a person subject to immigration control who is HIV positive but whose only needs, other than for a home and subsistence, are for medication prescribed by his doctor and a refrigerator in which to keep it.’
Held: The Council’s appeal succeeded. ‘the natural and ordinary meaning of the words ‘care and attention’ in this context is ‘looking after’. Looking after means doing something for the person being cared for which he cannot or should not be expected to do for himself: it might be household tasks which an old person can no longer perform or can only perform with great difficulty; it might be protection from risks which a mentally disabled person cannot perceive; it might be personal care, such as feeding, washing or toileting. This is not an exhaustive list. The provision of medical care is expressly excluded. ‘ The claimant’s medical care was being provided by the NHS.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Scott of Foscote, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
[2008] UKHL 52, [2008] 1 WLR 1808, [2008] BLGR 871, (2008) 11 CCL Rep 733, [2008] 4 All ER 831, [2008] NPC 94, [2008] HLR 44
Bailii, Times, HL
National Assistance Act 1948 21(1)(a)
England and Wales
Citing:
At First Instance – M, Regina (on the Application of) v Slough Borough Council Admn 27-Apr-2004
The claimant, a Zimbabwean, was subject to immigration control. He was HIV positive, and sought assistance from the authority under the 1948 Act. The authority replied that his needs did not reach such a level as to require assistance under the . .
Appeal from – Slough Borough Council v M, Regina (on the Application Of) CA 25-May-2006
The claimant was subject to immigration control. He sought assistance under the 1948 Act on the basis that he suffered HIV. The authority appealed an order requiring them to provide assistance on the basis that he need for medication brought him . .
Cited – Westminster City Council v National Asylum Support Service HL 17-Oct-2002
The applicant sought assistance from the local authority. He suffered from spinal myeloma, was destitute and an asylum seeker.
Held: Although the Act had withdrawn the obligation to provide assistance for many asylum seekers, those who were . .
Cited – Steane v Chief Adjudication Officer and Another HL 8-Aug-1996
Since no payments had been made by the Local Authority for care, a care home resident was entitled to claim Attendance Allowance.
Occupant of residential home paying charges himself may get attendance allowance. . .
Cited – Chief Adjudication Officer and Another v Quinn (For Jane Harris) and Another HL 9-Oct-1996
LT Applicable amount – local authority accommodation leased to voluntary organisations – whether claimants are ‘persons in residential accommodation’ or are living in ‘residential care homes’ . .
Cited – Regina v Wandsworth London Borough Council Ex Parte Beckwith HL 15-Dec-1995
The applicants had contended that Wandsworth was under a duty to maintain some accommodation for the elderly in premises under its own management.
Held: The applicants claim failed. Local Authorities may provide all care for elderly by outside . .
Cited – Regina v Wandsworth London Borough Council, Ex Parte O; Leicester City Council, Ex Parte Bhikha CA 7-Sep-2000
The applicants were immigrants awaiting determination of their applications for exceptional leave to remain, and who came to suffer from serious illness. Each applied for and was refused assistance from their local authority.
Held: The . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Social Security Ex Parte B and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants CA 27-Jun-1996
The Secretary of State had introduced regulations which excluded the statutory right to payment of ‘urgent case’ benefits for asylum seekers who had not claimed asylum immediately upon arrival, or whose claims for asylum had been rejected, and who . .
Cited – Regina v Kensington and Chelsea Royal London Borough Ex Parte Kihara; Similar CA 25-Jun-1996
Four asylum seekers had been deprived of benefits, and left destitute. They had sought housing assistance from the authority, claiming that the complete absence of resources left to them was an ‘other special reason’ leaving them vulnerable within . .
Cited – Regina v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council, ex parte M; Regina v Similar Ex Parte P etc QBD 8-Oct-1996
Destitute asylum seekers who were not entitled to welfare benefits could be in need of care and attention within the meaning of section 21 of the 1948 Act although they were no longer entitled to housing assistance or other social security benefits . .
Cited – Adam, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Limbuela v Same; Tesema v Same HL 3-Nov-2005
The applicants had each entered the UK with a view to seeking asylum, but having failed to seek asylum immediately, they had been refused any assistance, were not allowed to work and so had been left destitute. Each had claimed asylum on the day . .
Cited – Wahid v London Borough of Tower Hamlets CA 7-Mar-2002
Gilliatt The appellant suffered from schizophrenia. He was refused permission to apply for judicial review and for orders requiring the local authority not just to provide suitable accommodation but better . .
Cited – Regina (on the Application of Mani) v London Borough of Lambeth CA 9-Jul-2003
Where a destitute and disabled asylum seeker had a clear need for care and attention, the local authority had a duty to provide it. The claimant was an asylum seeker, with impaired mobility and a history of mental halth difficulties. At first he was . .

Cited by:
Cited – SL v Westminster City Council SC 9-May-2013
The applicant for assistance from the respondent Council under the 1948 Act was a destitute, homeless failed asylum seeker. He had been admitted to hospital for psychiatric care, but the Council had maintained that his condition was part of and . .
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 . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Benefits, Immigration

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.271278

James v Eastleigh Borough Council: HL 14 Jun 1990

Result Decides Dscrimination not Motive

The Council had allowed free entry to its swimming pools to those of pensionable age (ie women of 60 and men of 65). A 61 year old man successfully complained of sexual discrimination.
Held: The 1975 Act directly discriminated between men and women by treating women more favourably on the ground of their sex; the test to be applied was objective, and if, applying it, the answer would have been that the plaintiff would have received the same treatment but for his sex there was direct discrimination. A benign motive was irrelevant.
The policy was discriminatory. ‘The fallacy, with all respect, which underlies and vitiates [the Court of Appeal’s reasoning] was a failure to recognise that the statutory pensionable age, being fixed at 60 for women and 65 for men, is itself a criterion which directly discriminates against men and women in that it treats women more favourably than men ‘on the ground of their sex’. The expression ‘pensionable age’ is no more than a convenient shorthand expression which refers to the age of 60 in a woman and the age of 65 in a man. In considering whether there has been discrimination against a man ‘on the ground of his sex’ it cannot possibly make any difference whether the alleged discriminator uses the shorthand expression or spells out its full meaning.’ Discrimination contrary to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 did not require an intention to discriminate on the grounds of sex and was not excused by a motive of conferring a benefit.
There are some actions which are inherently discriminatory. The criterion applied for entry to the swimming pool was such a criterion, and it was unnecessary to enquire as to ‘the reason why’ an alleged discriminator has acted as he or she did. (Lord Griffiths dissenting)

Lord Bridge, Lord Goff of Chieveley
[1990] 3 WLR 55, [1990] 2 AC 751, [1990] 2 All ER 607, [1990] ICR 554, [1990] UKHL 6, [1990] IRLR 288
Bailii
Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Social Security Act 1975
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – James v Eastleigh Borough Council CA 1985
The plaintiff was used to going swimming. He was 60. He complained that whereas his wife, of the same age was admitted free, he had had to pay .75p. He claimed sex discrimination.
Held: Though his claim failed, Sir Nicolas Browne-Wilkinson V-C . .
Cited – Regina v Birmingham City Council ex parte Equal Opportunities Commission HL 1989
At the council’s independent, single-sex grammar schools there were more places available for boys than girls. Consequently the council were obliged to set a higher pass mark for girls than boys in the grammar school entrance examination.
Cited – Regina v Commission for Racial Equality (ex parte Westminster City Council) QBD 1984
The council had dismissed a black road sweeper to whose appointment the trade union objected on racial grounds.
Held: The council’s motive for doing so, to avert industrial action, could not avail them. Woolf J said: ‘In this case although the . .
Cited – Regina v Moloney HL 21-Mar-1984
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder.
Held: The appeal was allowed and a conviction for manslaughter substituted.
Lord Bridge of Harwich discussed the case of Hyam: ‘But looking on their facts at the decided cases . .

Cited by:
Cited – European Roma Rights Centre and others v Immigration Officer at Prague Airport and Another CA 20-May-2003
A scheme had been introduced to arrange pre-entry clearance for visitors to the United Kingdom by posting of immigration officers in the Czech Republic. The claimants argued that the system was discriminatory, because Roma visitors were now . .
Cited – MacDonald v Advocate General for Scotland (Scotland); Pearce v Governing Body of Mayfield School HL 19-Jun-2003
Three appeals raised issues about the way in which sex discrimination laws were to be applied for cases involving sexual orientation.
Held: The court should start by asking what gave rise to the act complained of. In this case it was the . .
Cited – Ashton v The Chief Constable of West Mercia Constabulary EAT 27-Jul-2000
Where a dismissal was properly related to poor work performance, the fact that such a deterioration in performance was associated with a gender reassignment process being undergone by the employee, did not make the dismissal sex discrimination. To . .
Cited – Ahsan v Carter CA 28-Jul-2005
The claimant sought to assert race discrimination by the Labour Party in not selecting him as a political candidate. The defendant, chairman of the party appealed.
Held: A political party when selecting candidates was not acting as a . .
Cited – A C Redfearn v Serco Ltd T/A West Yorkshire Transport Service EAT 27-Jul-2005
The claimant said that he had been indirectly discriminated against on racial grounds. He was dismissed after being elected as a local councillor for the BNP. The employer considered that for Health and Safety reasons, his dismissal was necessary . .
Cited – Mohammed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence CA 1-May-2007
In 2000, the defendant introduced a policy to make compensation payments for those British services personnel who had been imprisoned by the Japanese in the second world war. The appellant, a citizen of Pakistan had served in the Indian Army, was . .
Cited – London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm and Disability Rights Commission CA 25-Jul-2007
The court was asked, whether asked to grant possession against a disabled tenant where the grounds for possession were mandatory. The defendant was a secure tenant with a history of psychiatric disability. He had set out to buy his flat, but the . .
Cited – Amnesty International v Ahmed EAT 13-Aug-2009
amnesty_ahmedEAT2009
EAT RACE DISCRIMINATION – Direct discrimination
RACE DISCRIMINATION – Indirect discrimination
RACE DISCRIMINATION – Protected by s. 41
UNFAIR DISMISSAL – Constructive dismissal
Claimant, of . .
Cited – E, Regina (On the Application of) v The Governing Body of JFS and Another CA 25-Jun-2009
E challenged the admissions policy of a school which admitted by preference children acknowledged to be Jewish by the Office of their Rabbi. His mother being Jewish by conversion in a progressive synagogue, E was excluded. The claimant suggested . .
Cited – E, Regina (on The Application of) v Governing Body of JFS and Another SC 16-Dec-2009
E complained that his exclusion from admission to the school had been racially discriminatory. The school applied an Orthodox Jewish religious test which did not count him as Jewish because of his family history.
Held: The school’s appeal . .
Cited – Fecitt and Others v NHS Manchester EAT 23-Nov-2010
EAT VICTIMISATION DISCRIMINATION – Protected disclosure
S.47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 provides that ‘A worker has the right not to be subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate . .
Cited – Conteh v Parking Partners Ltd EAT 17-Dec-2010
EAT HARASSMENT – Conduct
Where an employee worked in an environment in which her dignity was violated, or which became intimidatory, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive as a result of actions of . .
Cited – Stewart v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions CA 29-Jul-2011
The court considered the arrangements for providing public support for the costs of funerals. The claimant’s son had died whilst she was in prison. Assistance had been refused because, as a prisoner, she was not receiving benefits. She complained . .
Cited – Bull and Bull v Hall and Preddy CA 10-Feb-2012
The appellants owned a guesthouse. They appealed from being found in breach of the Regulations. They had declined to honour a booking by the respondents of a room upon learning that they were a homosexual couple. The appellants had said that they . .
Cited – Bull and Another v Hall and Another SC 27-Nov-2013
The court was asked ‘Is it lawful for a Christian hotel keeper, who sincerely believes that sexual relations outside marriage are sinful, to refuse a double-bedded room to a same sex couple?’ The defendants (Mr and Mrs Bull) appealed against a . .
Cited – Patmalniece v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 16-Mar-2011
The claimant challenged as incompatible with EU law, the Regulations which restricted the entitlement to state pension credit to those entitled to reside in the UK.
Held: The appeal failed (Majority). The conditions imposed by the Regulations . .
Cited – Essop and Others v Home Office (UK Border Agency) SC 5-Apr-2017
The appellants alleged indirect race and belief discrimination in the conditions of their employment by the respondent. Essop came as lead claimant challenging the tests used for promotion. Statistics showed lower pass rates for BME candidates, but . .
Cited – Coll, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice SC 24-May-2017
The appellant female prisoner asserted that the much smaller number of probation and bail hostels provided for women prisoners when released on licence was discriminatory in leaving greater numbers of women far removed from their families.
Discrimination, Benefits

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.182467

REW, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Admn 13 Jun 2008

The claimant sought permission to bring judicial review of decisions of the Child Support Agency. He said that his payments should have been reduced for a period when he was in receipt of job seeker’s allowance. A liability order had been made against him, but for a later period.
Held: Leave was refused. The admission that the liability order related to a different period meant that the decision to enforce the liability order was not reviewable. Nevertheless the court considered the responsibility of different sections of the same department to take account of decisions about the same person. The Agency said that by the time it became aware of the payment of benefits, the 1991 Act precluded it from making a re-assessment. This was correct.

Andrew Nichol QC J
[2008] EWHC 2120 (Admin)
Bailii
Child Support Act 1991 16 17
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Kerr v Department for Social Development (Northern Ireland) HL 6-May-2004
Wrongful Refusal of Benefits
The claimant was estranged from his family, but claimed re-imbursement of the expenses for his brother’s funeral. The respondent required him to establish that none of his siblings was in a better position than he to pay for the funeral, but he had . .
Cited – Hinchy v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions HL 3-Mar-2005
The applicant had been dependent upon income support, and had then come to receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA). She therefore received additional income support, but the office did not adjust that benefit down when her DLA stopped. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Child Support, Benefits

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.276233

Revenue and Customs v Forde and McHugh Ltd: SC 26 Feb 2014

The Court heard a number of appeals concerned with the interpretation of the phrase in section 6(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, ‘[w]here in any tax week earnings are paid to or for the benefit of an earner’ It was asked as to the meaning of ‘earnings’ in that phrase The context is the payment of an employer’s contribution to a Funded Unapproved Retirement Benefits Scheme Until 2006 such schemes were commonly used to top up sums available through tax-approved pension schemes.
Held: The company’s appeal succeeded. The contributions made by it into a funded unapproved retirement benefits scheme in favour of one of its directors were not a part of the director’s ‘earnings’ for the purposes of section 6(1) of the 1992 Act and the company did not have to to pay national insurance contributions on the value of the contribution.

Lord Neuberger, President, Lord Sumption, Lord Reed, Lord Toulson, Lord Hodge
[2014] UKSC 14, [2014] STI 739, [2014] 1 WLR 810, [2014] WLR(D) 99, UKSC 2012/0162, [2014] Pens LR 203, [2014] 2 All ER 356, [2014] STC 724, [2014] ICR 403, [2014] BTC 8
WLRD, Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary
Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Tennant v Smith (Surveyor of Taxes) HL 14-Mar-1892
A Montrose bank manager had been given free accommodation in a bank house which he was required to occupy.
Held: The Inland Revenue could not charge income tax on the value of the accommodation because the employee could not convert the . .
Cited – Abbott v Philbin (Inspector of Taxes) HL 21-Jun-1960
A company’s senior employees had been given an option to subscribe for its shares at the then current market price, the option being exercisable at any time within the next ten years. The employees were thus incentivised to increase the company’s . .
Cited – Heaton v Bell HL 1970
The Revenue sought to tax the benefit of a car loan scheme and the issue was whether the emoluments of a participating employee fell to be assessed under Schedule E gross without reference to the weekly sum deducted by the employer for providing, . .
Cited – Depositors’ Protection Board v Dalia HL 20-May-1994
The House was asked as to the meaning of the word ‘depositor’. Regulations were prayed in aid which were made four years after the date of the enactment.
Held: The protection given by the Depositor Protection Scheme does not extend to . .
Cited – Hanlon v The Law Society HL 1981
The House considered the impact of the statutory charge under the 1974 Act in matrimonial proceedings.
Held: The costs in respect of which the statutory charge bit were the costs of the whole divorce proceedings and not just the financial . .
At UTTC – Forde and McHugh v HM Reveue and Customs UTTC 21-Feb-2011
NATIONAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS – contribution to FURBS – whether liable for Class I contributions – no – appeal allowed. . .
Appeal from – HM Revenue and Customs v Forde and McHugh Ltd CA 30-May-2012
Sums paid by an employer, other than out of an employee’s salary, which were to provide contingent benefits to an employee, did not fall within the charge to NICs on earnings before the occurrence of the contingency and the payment of the benefits. . .

Cited by:
Cited – RFC 2012 Plc (Formerly The Rangers Football Club Plc) v Advocate General for Scotland SC 5-Jul-2017
The Court was asked whether an employee’s remuneration is taxable as his or her emoluments or earnings when it is paid to a third party in circumstances in which the employee had no prior entitlement to receive it himself or herself.
Held: The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Income Tax, Benefits

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.521991

Mallinson v Secretary of State for Social Security: HL 26 Apr 1994

A blind person needing help (active personal service) in getting about in unfamiliar places may be entitled to attendance allowance. The court was willing to give ‘bodily functions’ a fairly wide meaning. Seeing was a bodily function.

Lord Woolf and Lord Browne-Wilkinson
Gazette 15-Jun-1994, Times 28-Apr-1994, Independent 26-Apr-1994, [1994] 1 WLR 630
Social Security Act 1975 35(1)(a)
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Mallinson v Secretary of State for Social Security SSCS 21-Apr-1994
. .

Cited by:
Cited – Moyna v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions HL 31-Jul-2003
The appellant had applied for and been refused disability living allowance on the basis of being able to carry out certain cooking tasks.
Held: The purpose of the ‘cooking test’ is not to ascertain whether the applicant can survive, or enjoy a . .
Appealed to – Mallinson v Secretary of State for Social Security SSCS 21-Apr-1994
. .
Cited – Cockburn v Chief Adjudication Officer and Another and Secretary of State for Social Services v Fairey HL 21-May-1997
The provision of an interpreter for a deaf person was included in range of care needed for attendance for Disability Living Allowance. Dealing with his soiled laundry was not so included: ‘In my opinion it is not enough to ask whether the act in . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Benefits

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.83355

Mclaughlin, Re Judicial Review: CANI 13 Dec 2016

Widowed parent’s allowance. The Court of Appeal unanimously held that the legislation was not incompatible with article 14, read either with article 8 or with A1P1
Morgan LCJ, Gillen LJ and Weatherup LJ
[2016] NICA 53
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8 A1P1 8, Social Security Contributions and Benefits (NI) Act 1992 36A 39A
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Appeal from – Mclaughlin’s Application QBNI 9-Feb-2016
The claimant appealed from refusal of payment of Bereavement Benefit and Widowed Parent’s Allowance on the grounds that she had neither married nor been civil partner of her deceased partner. She applied for judicial review of that decision on the . .

Cited by:
Cited – McLaughlin, Re Judicial Review SC 30-Aug-2018
The applicant a differently sexed couple sought to marry under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, but complained that they would lose the benefits of widowed parent’s allowance. Parliament had decided to delay such rules to allow assessment of reaction . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 September 2021; Ref: scu.605161

C, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: CA 9 Feb 2016

The Court was asked whether, in the context of awarding Jobseeker’s Allowance, the State has unjustifiably interfered with the right of transgender persons to have information about their gender reassignment kept private.
Held: The appeal failed. Elias LJ accepted that article 8 was engaged by both the Retention and the SCR policies, but agreed with Simon J that the interference was proportionate. He rejected the argument that article 14 required transgender customers to be treated differently from others. Any indirect discrimination entailed in the SCR policy was justified for the same reasons that the interference with article 8 rights was justified. A new argument, that the policies were contrary to the requirement in section 9 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 that where a full gender recognition certificate is issued, ‘the person’s gender becomes for all purposes the acquired gender’ was rejected: this did not require history to be rewritten.
Elias, Patten, Black LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 47, [2016] WLR(D) 68, [2016] PTSR 1344
Bailii, WLRD
European Convention on Human Rights 8, Gender Recognition Act 2004
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – C, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Another Admn 18-Jul-2014
The court was asked as to the extent to which the State should retain personal information about citizens, and whether its policies or practices for doing so comply with the human rights of those citizens. It arose in the instant case in a . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – C, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 1-Nov-2017
This case is about how the Department for Work and Pensions (the DWP), in administering our complex welfare benefits system, treats people with a reassigned gender, and specifically whether certain policies conflict (1) with the Gender Recognition . .
Cited – AR, Regina (on The Application of) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and Another SC 30-Jul-2018
The appellant had been tried for and acquitted on a criminal charge. He now challenged the disclosure by the respondent of the charge in an Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate.
Held: His appeal failed. The critical question was whether the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 17 August 2021; Ref: scu.559582

The Queen v The Inhabitants of Barnsley; 12 May 1849

References: [1849] EngR 628, (1849) 12 QB 193, (1849) 116 ER 840
Links: Commonlii
It is not necessary that a lunatic, chargeable to a parish, should be sent to an asylum or licensed house. The justice before whom he is brought is to decide whether he is a proper person to he confined or not; and, if not corifined, he may Be removed to his parish as an ordinary pauper. An idiot, aged thirty, living with his parents in parish B., became chargeable; and thereupon he and they were removed by order of justices to parish T., their place of settlement. The order was never appealed against. The father retained his house in B, in the care of two of his children, who were emancipated; and, when removed, he intended to return as soon as he could. After four days, the paupers did return to the house in B, with the consent of the overseers of T, who promised to send weekly relief to the parents for the son : but the son again became chargeable to B; and another order was made, finding the son and parents chargeable, and ordering their removal to T. The famiIy had resided in B. for five years next before the makirig of this order, excepting only the four days above mentioned. On appeal (not stating as a ground that the parents were not chargeable at the date of the second order), and case stated by the sessions : Held that the five years’ residence was broken by the removal to parish T., arid that the paupers were not irremoveable from B. under stat. 9 & 10 Vict. c. 66, s. I.