03 October 2025
Writing in NLJ this week, Kelvin Rutledge KC of Cornerstone Barristers and Genevieve Screeche-Powell of Field Court Chambers examine the Court of Appeal’s rejection of a discrimination challenge to Tower Hamlets’ housing database
The system, designed to allocate scarce housing efficiently, was attacked by Anisa Begum, a single mother who argued it placed women at a particular disadvantage, relying on statistical evidence. Shelter intervened in support.
Both the High Court and Court of Appeal disagreed, finding the database was not a ‘deferral list’ and did not itself cause disadvantage: men and women in unsuitable accommodation were ‘in the same boat’. Lord Justice Lewis stressed that causation, not correlation, was key, and that the real issue was shortage of supply, not database design.
The judgment is likely to attract attention from other housing authorities as a lawful model for managing acute demand under equality law.
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