Ingold & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Zoe Leventhal KC, Emma Dring and Emma Foubister (instructed by Deighton Pierce Glynn) for the Claimants Sir James Eadie KC, Cecilia Ivimy, Jackie McArthur and Oliver Jackson (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Defendants Darryl Hutcheon (instructed by Reed Smith LLP) for the Intervener Hearing dates: 3 and 4 October 2023 ____________________

That link takes the reader to Guidance on Domestic Abuse which states in particular that: " Domestic abuse is not always physical violence. It can also include � economic abuse ." Moreover, the Guidance issued on Regulation 4(3) of the Child Support Fees Regulations 2014 also provides that domestic abuse can encompass financial abuse. Indeed, Sir James Eadie KC made clear that the Defendant does not take issue with the fact that domestic abuse may consist of economic abuse.

Ground 1 : the ongoing failures of collection and enforcement in the Claimants' cases and the policies and practices giving rise to the same constitute a disproportionate interference with the rights of both the children and their mothers to the payment of the monies due to them as protected by Article 1 of the First Protocol ("A1P1") of the European Convention on Human Rights ("ECHR").

Ground 2 : the ongoing failures to collect and enforce the maintenance payments in the Second to Eighth Claimants' cases (including investigatory steps preparatory thereto) and the policies and practices giving rise to the same breach of the Defendant's positive obligation under Article 8 ECHR ("Article 8") to protect the Claimants, as known victims of domestic violence, from ongoing economic abuse.

Ground 4: the failures to collect and enforce the maintenance payments in the Claimants' cases, and the policies and practices giving rise to the same, breach the Defendant's Padfield obligation to promote the legislative purpose of the 1991 Act.