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No discrimination by database

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A council’s database for homeless applicants was found not to be discriminatory against women, write Kelvin Rutledge KC & Genevieve Screeche-Powell

  • Tower Hamlets Council has sought to tackle the housing crisis by using a database to help it allocate housing to homeless applicants.
  • In Anisa Begum v London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the appellant claimed the use of the database discriminated unlawfully against her as a woman.
  • The court accepted Tower Hamlets Council’s submission that the database was not a deferral list or otherwise a means of delaying performance of the main housing duty.

In Alibkhiet v Brent London Borough; Adam v City of Westminster [2018] EWCA Civ 2742, Lord Justice Lewison famously remarked: ‘You would need to be a hermit not to know that there is an acute shortage of housing, especially affordable housing, in London; and that local government finance is severely stretched.’ That observation is especially true of family-sized temporary accommodation, which local housing authorities frequently need to discharge

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NEWS
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
In a very special tribute in this week's NLJ, David Burrows reflects on the retirement of Patrick Allen, co-founder of Hodge Jones & Allen, whose career epitomised the heyday of legal aid
Michael Zander KC, Emeritus Professor at LSE, tracks the turbulent passage of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill through the House of Lords in this week's issue of NLJ. Two marathon debates drew contributions from nearly 200 peers, split between support, opposition and conditional approval
Alistair Mills of Landmark Chambers reflects on the Human Rights Act 1998 a quarter-century after it came into force, in this week's issue of NLJ
In his latest Civil Way column for NLJ, Stephen Gold surveys a raft of procedural changes and quirky disputes shaping civil practice. His message is clear: civil practitioners must brace for continual tweaks, unexpected contentions and rising costs in everyday litigation
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