UK Government broke Equality Act

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Fishnut
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UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by Fishnut » Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:28 am

By failing to provide BSL interpreters for covid briefings the government broke the Equality Act, a judge has just ruled.
In the ruling, Justice Fordham writes: “It is hereby declared that: The Defendant discriminated against the Claimant, within the meaning of s.21(2) of the Equality Act 2010 and contrary to s.29(2), by reason of a failure to make reasonable adjustments (in breach of s.20(5)) in respect of the absence of British sign language interpretation for the broadcast of two data briefings which took place on 21 September 2020 and 12 October 2020.”
Why the government forced this to go to court rather than just say "we messed up. Thank you for pointing out we have discriminated against the 87,000 Deaf BSL users in the UK. We will get interpreters for future press conferences and government announcements" I don't know.
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by Fishnut » Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:14 am

The BBC article on this ruling points out that "Similar briefings in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland included British Sign Language interpreters on screen" which makes their decision to not only refuse to provide interpreters but put this to the courts even more baffling.
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discovolante
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by discovolante » Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:20 am

The judgment is here https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ad ... /2108.html

ETA pisses me off that articles don't link to judgments when they're publicly available.
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by Fishnut » Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:43 am

Thank you for that.
discovolante wrote:
Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:20 am
ETA pisses me off that articles don't link to judgments when they're publicly available.
Totally agree. I can excuse the first link as it's a website run by one person from what I can tell, but there's no excuse for the BBC to not include a link.
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by Fishnut » Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:51 am

I see that the government tried to put the blame on the BBC,
The first Data Briefing (21.9.20) was followed the very next day by a Briefing conducted by the Prime Minister (22.9.20), for which there was BSL interpretation. The second Data Briefing (12.10.20) was followed by a Briefing at 6pm that same day by the Prime Minister, for which there was BSL interpretation. The Defendant was entitled to rely on the BBC – as national broadcaster covering all Briefings – to make suitable provision and it was the BBC, unknown to the Defendant, who decided that BSL interpretation was not needed for the Data Briefings. These were a new type of Briefing, organised for a new time of day (11am) involving the Government scientists and involving no Ministerial lead or involvement. They were organised at short notice: the Data Briefing conducted at 11am on Monday 21 September 2020 was organised over the preceding weekend, with a note to the media provided at 11am on Sunday 20 September 2020; the Data Briefing of 11am Monday 12 October 2020 involved a notice to the media issued at 7pm on Sunday 11 October 2020. Viewed in the context of the Briefings as a whole – and viewed in the context of this and other Government information about the pandemic, communicated by Government and communicated or reported on by reliable secondary sources – these two Data Briefings were isolated incidents. There was no conscious Government decision to proceed without BSL interpretation. Government, and Mr Heneghan, were not aware and were not alerted to the fact that the BBC would choose not to use a BSL interpreter for a Briefing which was not being led by a Minister and had been organised at short notice. [my emphasis, para 34]
Fortunately the judge saw right through this,
Whilst it is entirely appropriate for arrangements to be made with other entities and agencies, including in this case the BBC, it was the statutory responsibility of Government as service provider to ensure delivery of the discharge of the reasonable adjustments duty. [para 35]
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by Fishnut » Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:18 pm

IANAL, and neither is the author, but this seems to be a fairly decent breakdown of what the ruling means.

TL:DR, the ruling can be seen as two parts - then and now. The government has been found to have failed to abide by the requirements of the Equality Act in the two briefings from last year. Going forward, the government doesn't have to provide "on-platform interpretation" (someone on the stage in the briefing room) as long as they do provide in-vision interpretation. However, the judge thinks that on-platform interpretation is the best option for most government briefings/press conferences but acknowledges that when presenting slides of data it causes problems for all viewers to have the screen split. The piece ends by concluding that if the government continues to rely on "in-vision" interpreters (which I think is them appearing in the corner of the screen) once data-heavy briefings are no longer a regular occurrence, it may be risking another legal case.
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by science_fox » Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:51 am

Are there any consequences to this? Or is it another case of the Gov breaking the law, and just shrugging.
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by Fishnut » Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:58 am

The BBC article says,
The level of damages awarded to the claimant would be assessed by a county court judge
Though I doubt those damages will be anything that worries the government. I think the bigger impact is there is now a legal precedent that says you've got to provide BSL interpretation for government briefings and if they fail in the future, ignorance isn't going to be an excuse.
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by discovolante » Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:08 am

science_fox wrote:
Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:51 am
Are there any consequences to this? Or is it another case of the Gov breaking the law, and just shrugging.
The order is in the last para of the judgment here:
(A) It is ordered that:
(1) The Claimant's claim is allowed in part, insofar reflected in the terms of the Court's declaration set out at paragraph (4) below.
(2) The Claimant's claim for damages arising from the declaration set out at paragraph (4) below is transferred to the county court for determination, following a period of 3 months from the date of this order. During that period, the parties may confirm to the Court that such transfer is no longer required in that the claim is withdrawn and/or resolved between the parties.
(3) The remainder of the Claimant's claim is dismissed.

(B) It is hereby declared that:
(4) The Defendant discriminated against the Claimant, within the meaning of s.21(2) of the Equality Act 2010 and contrary to s.29(2), by reason of a failure to make reasonable adjustments (in breach of s.20(5)) in respect of the absence of British sign language interpretation for the broadcast of two data briefings which took place on 21 September 2020 and 12 October 2020.

(C) Costs:
(5) The parties are to file and serve written submissions on costs (if not agreed) by (i) Claimant by 4pm on Monday 2 August 2021; (ii) Defendant by 4pm on Wednesday 4 August 2021; (iii) Claimant in reply by 4pm on Friday 6 August 2021.

(D) Further consequential matters:
(6) The Defendant is to submit any application for permission to appeal from this Court to the Court of Appeal (or confirmation that no such application will be made) by 4pm on Wednesday 11 August 2021.
(7) The Defendant's time for filing his Appellant's Notice with the Court of Appeal (if so advised) is extended to 21 days from the date of the High Court's order in respect of permission to appeal for which application is made pursuant to paragraph (6) above, in accordance with CPR 52.12(2)(a).
(On phone so have tried to insert paras as best I can).
I've bolded the main bit re consequences (apart from the legal costs...). The case has been transferred from the High Court to the County Court to deal with a claim for damages. There will be a 3 month wait to allow for negotiations it seems.

In terms of the level of damages, in Equality Act claims they usually follow what are called Vento bands, which come from a case called Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police - basically three 'bands' or ranges of money depending on how serious the breach is. There is an explainer here with the current amounts:

https://www.pureemploymentlaw.co.uk/wha ... est-rates/

They relate to employment law and aren't binding but I'm not aware that they shouldn't be applied to other types of cases (could be wrong though but if so that doesn't seem to be widely known...). So unless I'm mistaken about this case, which I could be, if any damages are awarded/agreed then they will probably be along those lines.
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Re: UK Government broke Equality Act

Post by Fishnut » Wed Aug 11, 2021 1:07 pm

An article by the Deaf woman who brought the case. It's well worth reading because it really conveys the fear and uncertainty that not having an interpreter caused.
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