RR v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Empowering Tribunals to Enforce the Human Rights Act 1998

Abstract

In RR v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions — follow-on litigation from the high-profile bedroom tax cases–the Supreme Court handed down a judgment which has significant implications for social security law, the interpretation of the Human Rights Act, the tribunals system, the judicial control of delegated legislation, and access to justice. Central, however, was the issue of the enforceability of human rights. We argue that the Supreme Court was not only justified in its interpretation of the Human Rights Act but that it has made the protections of the Act more easily enforceable.