On 19 December 2019, the High Court handed down judgment in PRCBC & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 3536 (Admin). The court found that the Secretary of State had failed to assess and give primary consideration to the best interests of children when setting the fee for children to register as British citizens. It, therefore, held that the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018, SI 2018/330 (and the previous regulations) were unlawful insofar as these set the citizenship registration fee for children.
The judgment requires the Secretary of State to reconsider the fee having full regard to children’s best interests as a primary consideration in setting it. However, the court has granted the Secretary of State permission to appeal.
PRCBC had also argued that there was no power for the Secretary of State to set the fee at above the cost to the Secretary of State of registering a child’s British citizenship or at a level that was unaffordable to many children entitled to that citizenship. The court ruled that it was bound to reject this argument by reason of an earlier decision of the Court of Appeal (R (Williams) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 98) but granted a certificate under section 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1969 for the claimants to apply for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Joint Press release here:
High Court rules Home Office 1000 fee for children to register as British citizens unlawful
Judgement here: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2019/3536.html
Casenote here: Note_Fees_Litigation_ Oct_ 2019
Briefing on Fees, March 2019 here: Fees_Briefing_Revised_March_2019
Commentary on parliamentary debates on British Nationality Act 1981 here:
Commentary_ Hansard BNA 1981 _registration_Aug 2018-2
PRCBC Board of trustees are grateful to:
- Our beneficiaries (children with citizenship rights)
- PRCBC Legal Team: Our solicitors, Maria Patsalos, Lucy Grant and Lydia Boateng (Mishcon de Reya), Richard Drabble QC (Landmark Chambers) and Miranda Butler (Garden Court Chambers).
- The Legal Team in O: Richard Drabble QC & Admas Habeslasie (Landmark Chambers), Solange Valdez- Symonds, Neelma Iqbal (Consonant) and clerks at Landmark chambers.
- The Legal Team in A: Richard Drabble QC, Jason Pobjoy and Isabel Buchanan (Blackstone Chambers), Solange Valdez- Symonds and Neelma Iqbal (Consonant)
- Campaign Team: i) Amnesty UK Children Human Rights Network ii) Surrey Square School 3) Amnesty UK.
- Amnesty UK media Team: Cora Bauer
- Our Patrons: Baroness Lister and Claude Moraes MEP.
- Our volunteers: Dirghayu Patel (GT Stewart solicitors), Mike Poulter (Turpin Miller solicitors), Amarjit Ahluwalia, Rebecca Hacker) and Steve Valdez-Symonds (Amnesty UK).
- Funder of our legal research on children’s citizenship fee and other work: Strategic Litigation Funding (SLF)/ILPA (Trust For London) and Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF)
- Organisations and individuals who provided statements and other support in this court case: Amanda Weston QC (Garden Court chambers), Ronan Toal (Garden Court), Baroness Lister, Lord Alton, Prof. Helen Stalford (Liverpool University Law Clinic), Prof. Donald Hirsch (Loughborough University), Henry St Clair Miller (No Recourse to Public Funds Network), Fiona Carrick-Davies (Surrey Square Primary School), Steve Valdez-Symonds (Amnesty UK), Julian Bild (ATLEU), Sian Pearce (Avon & Bristol Law Centre), Clemence Aymon (RAMFEL), Eve Dickson (Project 17) and Akwaaba, Catherine Theharne-Evans (LB of Hounslow), Katie Fennell (KIND), PRCBC ambassadors, Caz Hattam (Unity Project), PRCBC clients, Solange Valdez-Symonds (PRCBC volunteer director), Shane Enright (Trade Union adviser, Amnesty UK), Alison Jordan (Amnesty UK production executive), Cora Bauer (media at Amnesty UK), Imran Uppal (Digital at Amnesty UK), Dr Bronwen Manby (London School of Economics), Barbara Muldoon (Children’s Law Centre, Northern Ireland), Sue Willman (Deighton Pierce Glynn solicitors), Lara ten Caten (Liberty), Sayed Ahmed AlWadaei (Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy) and Ian Hollings (Legal Aid Agency).
If you wish to make a donation to support PRCBC’s pro bono legal casework for destitute children, please follow this link:
https://donate.kindlink.com/prcbc/2666
