[UPDATED]: How to appeal the refusal of primary school places: an intro for parents & carers

On National Primary School Offer Day, parents and carers across the UK find out whether their children have been offered a place at their preferred maintained Primary School. Here’s a quick introduction to appealing refusal decisions and an overview of the new COVID-19 rule changes.

Colour blocked illustration of a server room

Do no harm: ECJ finds in favour of meta-search engines in ‘database right’ dispute

The European Court of Justice has made it potentially harder for EU database-makers to protect the contents of their databases from being extracted or re-used by meta-search engines and online content aggregators.

Tribunal rejects claim by employee sacked for refusing to wear a mask

In a legal first, the Employment Tribunal has decided whether it was fair for an employer to dismiss an employee who refused to wear a mask when making site deliveries during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pregnant then Screwed? High Court finds no discrimination in pandemic payments to self-employed mothers

An unsuccessful judicial review challenge to the impact of pandemic support payments to self-employed mothers sheds light on the equality outcomes of UK government policy

High Court finds ‘huge delay’ in the Home Office provision of asylum support accommodation

The Court found that the lack of effective monitoring rendered the government’s system of asylum support unlawful and discriminatory

Migrant victims of domestic violence fear losing everything because of hostile Home Office policies

While domestic abuse increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, inflexible and poorly applied Home Office policies are keeping migrant women in fear of accessing help and escaping violent and controlling relationships.

Why maladministration claims just got even tougher 🤨⚖️

At a time when coronavirus legislation has softened the duties on local authorities to meet adult social care needs, a recent decision of the High Court has made it harder for claimants to use human rights law to seek compensation for delays and maladministration.

Systemic challenge to the imprisonment of immigration detainees fails

In late March 2020 the Home Office released some 300 immigration detainees to avoid the risk of spreading coronavirus. Hundreds more remain in detention and some are held on the prison estate. The fairness of imprisoning immigration detainees was tested in a recent, unsuccessful legal challenge.

This is the most sensible guidance on remote hearings that I’ve read so far📱👌🏽

Much has written about remote video hearings since the COVID-19 lockdown and there remain plenty of issues to consider. New, handy guidance from the Employment Tribunal offers a bunch of tips for better video hearings.

Home Office to face negligence claim over visa document delays

A new decision by the Court of Appeal confirms that the Home Office may be held liable in negligence for unreasonable delays in providing visa documents and that the Upper Tribunal can award damages in such claims.