header-logo header-logo

Pay freezes, ‘costs plus’ & indirect discrimination

08 January 2021 / Charles Pigott
Issue: 7915 / Categories: Features , Employment , Discrimination
printer mail-detail
35134
Charles Pigott takes the measure of the ‘costs plus’ rule of thumb in age discrimination cases
  • The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the discriminatory impact of slowing pay progression in the probation service could be justified in the context of the last public sector pay freeze.
  • The ruling examines the usefulness of the ‘costs plus’ test as a way of distinguishing between lawful and unlawful policies when these disadvantage protected groups.

The origins of the dispute in Heskett v Secretary of State for Justice [2020] EWCA Civ 1487, [2020] All ER (D) 72 (Dec) go back to the public sector pay freeze imposed by the coalition government after it took power in 2010. The Court of Appeal’s decision was announced two weeks before the 2020 spending review, in which the chancellor announced another pay freeze for the whole public sector, excluding the NHS.

The Court of Appeal, reaching the same conclusion as the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ((2019) UKEAT/0149/18, [2019] All ER (D) 12 (Jul)), dismissed

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll