R (on the application of Coleman) v Barnet London Borough Council [2012] EWHC 3725 (Admin), [2012] All ER (D) 256 (Dec)
The duty under s 149 of the Equality Act 2010 was not a duty to achieve a result, but to have due regard to the need to achieve the statutory goals. The court had to consider whether due regard had been paid to the equality duty and not simply whether the failure to have due regard to that duty was Wednesbury unreasonable. “Due” regard meant the regard that was appropriate in all the circumstances. The circumstances included the importance of the areas of life of the members of the disadvantaged group that were affected by the inequality of opportunity and the extent of the inequality, and such countervailing factors as were relevant to the function which the decision-maker was performing. Where disabilities were concerned, the duty encompassed due regard being given to the need to take steps to gather relevant information in order that the authority could properly take steps to take into account disabled persons’
