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Widowers and WBA
HMRC have issued a statement relating to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the cases of Hobbs, Geen, Walsh & Richards. These were widowers who claimed that it was discriminatory for widow's bereavement allowance (WBA) to be available to widows and not widowers. A case arguing this, R v Commissioners of Inland Revenue ex parte Wilkinson [2006] STC 270, was heard by the House of Lords, which dismissed the appeal. Four other widowers, Hobbs, Geen, Walsh and Richards (Hobbs and Others), took their cases to the ECtHR arguing that the refusal to make a payment equivalent to WBA to widowers was discriminatory and breached Article 14 when read together with Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights.
On 14 November 2006, the ECtHR held that:
- ? the non-availability of WBA to widowers was discriminatory and did violate the European Convention on Human Rights; however
- ? no damages were due as the violation had been remedied through the abolition of WBA; and
- costs and expenses would be awarded to successful represented claimants in relation to their applications to the ECtHR.
The widowers' attempted to appeal this decision but permission to appeal was denied on 26 March 2007, upon which date the above decision became final. HMRC have also received a number of claims from widowers who have chosen not to apply to the ECtHR. This group of claimants will not receive any compensation as they will not have incurred any relevant costs. A letter will be sent to those applicants who agreed to be bound by the decision of ECtHR informing them of the judgment and the implications for their claim.
HMRC news release, 23 July 2007
