• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / Independent Living / Hancock faces court action over accessible shielding information
Sarah Leadbetter at a postbox

Hancock faces court action over accessible shielding information

By John Pring on 4th February 2021 Category: Independent Living

Listen

The high court is set to hear a disabled woman’s claim that the government breached equality and human rights laws by failing to provide her with accessible shielding information during the pandemic.

Sarah Leadbetter, from Narborough, Leicestershire, who is blind and also clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19, was not sent any information about shielding in a format that was accessible to her.

Now she has won permission for a judicial review of the government’s failure, with the case set to be heard by the high court within weeks.

A judge ruled that it was arguable that health and social care secretary Matt Hancock’s failure to provide accessible correspondence breached his department’s duties under the Equality Act 2010, failed to comply with NHS England’s Accessible Information Standard, and discriminated against Leadbetter under the Human Rights Act.

Leadbetter, who has a genetic condition that affects her immune system and is in remission from cancer, only found out she was on the list of shielded patients when her mother read a letter she had been sent.

She relies on her mother to read out her letters but, because of her own health problems, it can sometimes be weeks before she can do so.

Leadbetter (pictured) did not know she had received any of the four letters about shielding that were sent to her during 2020 until she was told about them by her mother.

And she did not receive an email that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said had been sent to some people in the shielding category.

Her lawyers say DHSC has turned down a request to provide shielding information to visually-impaired people in their preferred format.

DHSC has apparently argued that its failure to do so is not unlawful because receiving hard copy letters creates no substantial disadvantage to people with visual impairments, while it would be too difficult logistically – and not reasonable or proportionate – to provide them with information in their preferred formats.

Leadbetter said: “The issues I face are not unique to me, they are commonplace among blind and partially-sighted people. We feel as if we are treated like second-class citizens.

“Information that is easily accessible to sighted people is not made available to us in a format that we can access.

“So we lose our privacy about very personal medical information because we need someone else to read it for us.

“I have not been provided with any accessible information regarding shielding during the pandemic, which is has caused me a great deal of anxiety and puts my health at risk.

“I believe this is unlawful and I want the DHSC to take its responsibilities to sight-impaired people seriously.”

Her solicitor, Kate Egerton, from Leigh Day, said: “Clearly, not being able to access information about shielding puts people’s own health – and that of their families – at significant risk.

“Also, the DHSC has also failed to explain why it would be too difficult to provide accessible information to people who are shielding, particularly when the Accessible Information Standard has explicitly required this in relation to information regarding people’s health for a number of years.

“We are pleased that the court has decided that Sarah’s case is arguable and has ordered that a hearing be listed on an urgent basis.”

DHSC declined to comment on the legal action as it was an ongoing case.

But a DHSC spokesperson said in a statement: “The government remains focused on protecting the most vulnerable in our society, and have been committed to supporting disabled people throughout this pandemic.

“We have issued guidance for the clinically extremely vulnerable with information on how they can keep themselves safe during the restrictions, and this, along with a wide range of public health guidance, has been made available in a variety of formats, including easy read, British Sign Language and audio.

“Letters detailing shielding advice for the clinically extremely vulnerable are also available in a range of formats and languages, and are also sent by email where an individual has registered an email address with their GP practice.”

But Leadbetter says her GP and NHS trust do not have her email address because they will not correspond with her by email.

Leigh Day believes that DHSC is failing in its duties under the Accessible Information Standard, and its reasonable adjustment duty under the Equality Act, to “proactively identify those with communication needs arising out of their disability, record those needs and then ensure accessible correspondence is sent to the recipient”.

*For sources of information and support during the coronavirus crisis, visit the DNS advice and information page

 

A note from the editor:

Please consider making a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of DNS and allow it to continue producing independent, carefully-researched news stories that focus on the lives and rights of disabled people and their user-led organisations.

Please do not contribute if you cannot afford to do so, and please note that DNS is not a charity. It is run and owned by disabled journalist John Pring and has been from its launch in April 2009.

Thank you for anything you can do to support the work of DNS…

Share this post:

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on Reddit

Tags: accessible information DHSC Leigh Day Matt Hancock Sarah Leadbetter shielding shielding letters

Related

‘Halt new mental health bill until there is a public inquiry into deaths and abuse’
26th January 2023
Three ministers duck parliamentary questions on lifesaving blackout plans
17th November 2022
Public health bosses ‘not aware’ of any government blackout plans
10th November 2022

Primary Sidebar

Access

Latest Stories

Claimant deaths still linked to systemic flaws in benefits system, DWP document shows

Coffey scrapped plan for independent review of sanctions, DWP admits

Second Labour-led inquiry in two months fails to demand end to care charges

Silent vigil will mark latest stage in fight for second Jodey Whiting inquest

Disability poverty campaign calls on PM to act urgently on prepayment meters

‘Halt new mental health bill until there is a public inquiry into deaths and abuse’

Investigation reveals ‘discrimination and hostility’ faced by disabled parents

Warning of ‘humanitarian crisis’ if governments fail to act on disability poverty

Fresh plans to shut down protests ‘show government is running scared’

Universal credit judgment ‘shows legal system has failed us again’

Advice and Information

Readspeaker

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web