Stone King successfully challenges jurisdiction on behalf of client in Equality Act claim

Stone King recently represented a prominent multi-academy trust (MAT) in the County Court, in respect of a claim brought pursuant to the Equality Act 2010. The claim contained allegations that the MAT had discriminated against a pupil in respect of the protected characteristics of race, religion and disability. The MAT denies any wrongdoing.

Disability discrimination claims brought against schools are the jurisdiction of the First-Tier Tribunal. The Tribunal is a much more informal setting than the County Courts. It is designed to be more accessible to pupils and their families. The nature of the remedies available at the Tribunal are different to those available in the County Courts: the Tribunal remedies are focused on practical solutions to problems faced by disabled pupils in schools. The Tribunal can, for example, order that a pupil who has been excluded must be re-admitted, whereas the County Courts would not be able to make such an order. Conversely, the Tribunal does not have the power to award damages, whereas the County Court does. For this reason, claimants may attempt to issue their claims in the County Courts rather than the Tribunal, with a view to obtaining financial compensation. 

At Stone King, we have seen an increase in claimants issuing disability discrimination claims against schools in the County Courts. The claimant in this case alleged that there was both disability discrimination and race/religious discrimination. The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to hear the claims in respect of race and religion; these claims must be brought in the County Courts. The claimant asserted that they should be entitled to bring their whole claim in the County Court, because the claims were so intertwined. The claimant argued that having to bring two claims in two separate courts would be in breach of their rights under Article 6 (fair hearing) and Article 14 (freedom from discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Stone King argued on behalf of our client that the legislation is clear: the County Courts do not have jurisdiction to hear disability discrimination claims against schools. There is no breach of any ECHR right, as there are a number of other types of claims where different causes of action are split across different jurisdictions (for example, claims for unfair dismissal are heard in the Employment Tribunal, whereas claims for wrongful dismissal arising out of the same facts are heard in the civil courts). It is true that a pupil cannot seek damages from their school at the Tribunal in respect of disability discrimination, however, this has previously been established to be lawful and compliant with the ECHR (see R(AA and CC) v Secretary of State for Education and others [2022] EWHC 1613 (Admin)). We further argued that, if the claimant were to be successful, this would establish a principle which is unfair and open to abuse. Pupils who only have the protected characteristic of disability would be forced to issue in the Tribunal and would not be entitled to damages. Pupils with a disability and one or more additional protected characteristics would be able to bring their claim in the County Court.

The court agreed with our client, and struck out the elements of the claim related to disability discrimination. The court did not feel that the claimant’s Article 6 or 14 rights were infringed by having to bring its disability discrimination claims in the Tribunal, and the rest of their claims in the County Courts. The court concluded as follows: “[The Claimant] is required to bring two sets of proceedings in two different courts, but as I have already stated, there are countervailing advantages to litigants in having recourse to speedy, cheap, informal proceedings… It follows that the Section 15 Claim and the Section 20 Claim must be brought in the [Tribunal] and this court has no jurisdiction to hear them”.

Stone King frequently acts on behalf of schools and other types of institutions that have obligations under the Equality Act. See our Education section to find out more about how we can support you. Contact solicitor Zoë Libman at zoelibman@stoneking.co.uk if you have an Equality Act dispute you would like support with.