''R (Tigere) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills'' was a 2015 judgment of the

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the Unite ...

concerning

student loans in the United Kingdom Student loans and grants in the United Kingdom are primarily provided by the government through the Student Loans Company (SLC), an executive non-departmental public body. The SLC is responsible for Student Finance England and Student Finance Wales ...

Facts

Beaurish Tigere arrived in the UK from Zambia at the age of six. She came as a dependent of her father who had a student visa. The father left in 2003 but Tigere remained with her mother who over-stayed. The

UK Border Agency The UK Border Agency (UKBA) was the border control agency of the Government of the United Kingdom and part of the Home Office that was superseded by UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement in April 2013. It was forme ...

became aware of this situation in 2010 and granted them temporary permission to remain which became discretionary leave to remain in 2012. Tigere would have been entitled to apply for

indefinite leave to remain Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or permanent residency (PR) is an immigration status granted to a person who does not hold the right of abode in the United Kingdom (UK), but who has been admitted to the UK without any time limit on their stay a ...

in 2018 but until that time she was unable to apply for a student loan despite achieving three

A-Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

and a place at

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

to study International Business Management. The case was brought on behalf of Tigere by Public Interest Lawyers who argued that the policy was an infringement of Tigere's

right to education The right to education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free, compulsory primary education for ...

under Article 2 of the First Protocol of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by t ...

. This provision reads " person shall be denied the right to education" and the negative formulation does mean that there is no automatic entitlement to public support. However Tigere argued that this ought to be read in line with Article 14 of the Convention that states her rights "shall be secured without discrimination on any ground" (in this case her immigration status).

Judgment

High Court

The High Court found in favour of Tigere and held that the blanket ban on her eligibility for a student loan based on her immigration status was a disproportionate interference on her right to education and also constituted discrimination under Article 14.

Court of Appeal

The Secretary of State appealed the decision to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

which held that the case concerned an area of "national strategic policy for the distribution of scarce resources in a field of great social importance" and therefore a wide

margin of appreciation The margin of appreciation (or margin of state discretion) is a legal doctrine with a wide scope in international human rights law. It was developed by the European Court of Human Rights to judge whether a state party to the European Convention on ...

should be afforded to government policy. With this in mind the appeal was allowed.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court allowed Ms. Tigere's appeal by a majority of three to two.

Lady Hale Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, (born 31 January 1945) is a British judge who served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2017 until her retirement in 2020, and serves as a member of the House of Lords ...

(with whom

Lord Kerr Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, (; 22 February 19481 December 2020) was a Northern Irish barrister and a senior judge who was Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and then a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. ...

agreed) gave the leading judgment and concluded: Lord Hughes offered a concurring judgment but slightly disagreed with Lady Hale by suggesting that any future rules drawn up by the Secretary of State would not necessarily have to include an 'exceptional case' discretion. In particular he noted: University of Northumbria (geograph 2056156)

University of Northumbria (geograph 2056156)

The joint minority judgment handed down by Lords

Reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

and Sumption argued that the appropriate test is whether the scheme is 'manifestly without foundation' and concluded that:

Impact

Solicitor Paul Heron, of Public Interest Lawyers, said: The Coram Children’s Legal Centre provided evidence for the hearing. Their solicitor, Alison East, said: Just for Kids Law intervened in the case and estimated that between 600-1,000 students were affected by the restrictions each year. Their director Shauneen Lambe responded to the judgment by saying: The

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

noted that the judgment came "as figures revealed that students from the European Union have dodged paying back £43million in taxpayer-funded loans."

References

External links

Supreme Court judgment
{{Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Supreme Court of the United Kingdom cases 2015 in United Kingdom case law Education finance in the United Kingdom United Kingdom–Zambia relations United Kingdom immigration case law Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights Northumbria University Student rights case law United Kingdom education law Department for Business, Innovation and Skills