University Hospital and Warwickshire NHS Trust v K and another [2020]  EWCOP 31 This case is a timely illustration of the unenviable task faced by judges, doctors and mental health professionals during Lockdown. This judgment was delivered following a remote hearing conducted on a video conferencing platform of an urgent application brought by the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. In this final hearing, held remotely, the Trust have asked the Court of Protection…

In the News: Together with anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, the coronavirus pandemic has continued to dominate the news. Two recently published reports have highlighted flaws in the government’s response in relation to the provision of social security and domestic abuse support during the crisis. The pandemic has propelled an estimated 3 million new claimants onto universal credit, prompting fresh criticisms of the UK’s social security system. On 22 June, the…

In Re X (Parental Order: Death of Intended Parent Prior to Birth) [2020] EWFC 39 the Family Court read down section 54 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 to enable a parental order to be granted where an intending parent died shortly before the child’s birth. This ensured the child’s Article 8 and 14 rights were protected, and prevented much emotional hardship for this family. The case has already been cited in Re…

This post is written in response to a comment by a reader, John Burton, of Rosalind English’s post on the latest in the Lockdown challenge launched by Simon Dolan in which Philip Havers QC has been instructed. We don’t dispense legal advice from the UKHRB, but I thought this was a very interesting question and the editorial board felt it best to try to answer it in a separate post, so here it is, and…

It is now over a month since the death of George Floyd.  The UK Human Rights Blog and Law Pod are committed to continuing the conversation about racism in the UK prompted by his death and the Black Lives Matter protests. Michael Paulin has discussed a number of issues in his recent article. The beginning of this week marked Windrush Day, introduced in June 2018 on the 70th anniversary of the Windrush migration, to…

The vigilant gaze of the European Commission will begin to turn away from UK when the post-Brexit transition period ends at the turn of the year. The Commission has used its powers as the ‘guardian of the treaties’ to enforce EU laws relating to nature conservation, waste and air pollution. Its absence will leave a governance gap, and replacement institutions are needed to ensure that environmental laws are enforced. The UK Environment Bill proposes…