Allocation

June 28th, 2019 by James Goudie KC

The decision in  R (Z) v Hackney LBC, noted in this Bulletin on 6 February 2019, has been upheld by the Court of Appeal.  The Court held that the allocation policy of the Agudas Israel Housing Association (“AIHA”) was permitted by Section 193(1) and Section 193(2)(b) of the Equality Act 2010: paragraph 62.  A proportionality assessment was not required.

The starting point for consideration of the Council’s position in relation to nominations was that AIHA’s allocation policy was lawful. The Court of Appeal approved the approach of the Divisional Court: provided that AIHA is acting lawfully in the relevant respect, Hackney simply has no legal right or power, even if it were so minded, to insist that AIHA jettison its lawful arrangements, and to make allocation decisions without regard to those arrangements. AIHA has a “duty to co-operate”, but it has not been suggested, nor could it be sensibly suggested, that AIHA would act “unreasonably” in so far as it insisted, as it currently insists, on applying arrangements that are perfectly lawful under the 2010 Act. AIHA is co-operating with Hackney in a manner that is consistent with its own lawful arrangements.

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