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22 October 2021 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 7953 / Categories: Features , Public , Human rights , Equality
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Clash of rights & equalities

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Nicholas Dobson considers whether equality law permits religious organisations to uphold their views on sexual ethics in the way they work
  • An independent evangelical Christian fostering agency, which recruits and supports carers for children in local authority care and which required its carers to ‘abstain from all sexual sins including… homosexual behaviour’, unlawfully discriminated against gay men and lesbians under both the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998.

Not all rights and protected characteristics sit comfortably together. Sometimes there can be painful collisions. This was particularly apparent on 24 September 2021 when the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in R (Cornerstone (North East) Adoption and Fostering Services Ltd v Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) [2021] EWCA Civ 1390, [2021] All ER (D) 14 (Oct). For then, Peter Jackson LJ (with whom his colleagues Asplin and Nicola Davies LJJ agreed) found (for reasons similar but not identical to those of Knowles J below) that (in essence) Cornerstone, a Christian

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NLJ this week: No such thing as a ‘Welsh seat’
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
NLJ this week: Jury reform risks justice for efficiency’s sake
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
NLJ this week: Crypto fightback offers ‘new frontier for law’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
NLJ this week: Time to revive the duty to report crime?
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
NLJ this week: When are experts truly ‘necessary’?
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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