A number of propositions are confirmed by the Court of Appeal in JT v First-Tier Tribunal (2018) EWCA Civ 1735:-
Proprietary Interest
1. Article 1/1 of the ECHR protects an individual’s right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions;
2. These include –
i) Various intangible rights, and
ii) Legitimate expectations to payments or assets of various kinds;
3.Welfare benefits are within its ambit;Status
4. Although Article 14 contains a list of grounds on which discrimination is prohibited, that list is illustrative and not exhaustive;
5. The grounds covered by Article 14 can be depicted as falling within a series of concentric circles, with those characteristics which are innate or most closely connected with an individual’s personality at the core, such as gender, sexual orientation and race, and a wider circle including characteristics such as nationality, language, religion and politics;
6. The more peripheral or debatable any suggested personal characteristic is, the less likely it is to come within the most sensitive area where discrimination is particularly difficult to justify;
Justification
7. A wide margin is generally allowed to national authorities when it comes to general matters of economic or social strategy;
8. The test for justification is proportionality;
9. That is whether a fair balance has been struck; and
10. The balance is between the rights of the individual and the interests of the community.