OA v Secretary of State for Education

Dan Squires QC (instructed by Public Interest Law Centre) for the Claimant Galina Ward (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Defendant The Interested Party did not appear and was not represented Hearing dates: 5th and 6th February 2020 ____________________

i) Whether the 2011 Regulations disproportionately adversely affect women, and, if so,

iii) Of course, there may, as Mr Williams says in his witness statement, be many other reasons why even a victim of domestic abuse has gaps in her or his leave to remain in the UK. As it happens, the briefing to Minister which led to the 2020 Regulations and which was dated 4 th February 2019 specifically referred to the Claimant's case. It says

iv) Conversely, not every spouse who is given indefinite leave to remain as a victim of domestic abuse will have a gap in her or his lawful residence. In his witness statement, Mr Williams said that there were no official statistics, but the Home Office estimate was that about 10% of those granted leave under DVILR would have such gaps.

i) I recognise that, at least in theory, there may be measures which cannot be sub-divided into those that advantage a protected group and those that disadvantage them. In such cases, there may be no alternative but to consider whether, in the round, the measure substantially disadvantages the protected group.