In re McLaughlin

In the case of In re McLaughlin, Siobhan McLaughlin sought judicial review of a decision by the Northern Ireland Department for Communities to refuse her claims for bereavement payment and widowed parent's allowance following the death of her long-term partner, John Adams. The central issue before the court was whether the requirement that a claimant must have been married to or in a civil partnership with the deceased in order to be eligible for widowed parent's allowance unjustifiably discriminated against the claimant and her children on the basis of their marital or birth status, contrary to article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when read with either article 8 of the ECHR or article 1 of the First Protocol to the ECHR (A1P1).

The majority of the court, comprising Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, and Lady Black, concluded that the legislation was incompatible with article 14 of the ECHR, read with both article 8 and A1P1. They found that the difference in treatment between married or civil partnered survivors and unmarried cohabiting survivors was not objectively justified. The court emphasised that the purpose of the widowed parent's allowance was to diminish the financial loss caused to families with children by the death of a parent, and this loss was the same whether or not the parents were married or in a civil partnership with one another.

On the other hand, Lord Hodge dissented, arguing that the widowed parent's allowance was not incompatible with article 14 of the ECHR, read with either article 8 or A1P1. He maintained that the cohabiting survivor was not in an analogous situation to the married or civil partnered survivor, and that the promotion of marriage and civil partnership was a legitimate aim that could justify the difference in treatment.

Ultimately, the appeal was allowed, and a declaration of incompatibility was made under section 4(2) of the Human Rights Act 1998, declaring that section 39A of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 was incompatible with article 14 of the ECHR, read with article 8, insofar as it precluded any entitlement to widowed parent's allowance by a surviving unmarried partner of the deceased.