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The prohibition of forced or compulsory labour and conditional welfare under the United Kingdom's Universal Credit Scheme
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 April 2023
Abstract
To address the issue of persistent unemployment, the UK Government implemented a conditional welfare scheme. Prompted by Mantouvalou's argument that the scheme forces people into exploitative work, this paper addresses the ‘pressing’ question of whether the scheme is compatible with the prohibition on ‘forced or compulsory labour’ under Article 4(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is argued that, whether the scheme imposes the menace of a penalty, is involuntary, seriously exploitative or a normal civic obligation, ultimately depends on different understandings of the demands of distributive justice. Given the politically contested nature of those demands, Article 4(2) is a poor weapon to use when challenging the UK's conditional welfare scheme.
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- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Legal Scholars
References
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13 Mantouvalou, above n 5, at 934, 937–940.
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15 For the sake of clarity, and because the core elements of the UC scheme apply across the UK, the discussion is based on the scheme as applied in England and Wales. See further G McKeever ‘Legislative scrutiny, co-ordination and the Social Security Advisory Committee: from system coherence to Scottish devolution’ (2016) 23 Journal of Social Security Law 126; A Macklay ‘Social security powers in the UK’ (House of Commons Library Briefing Paper No 9048, 9 November 2020); T Mullen ‘Devolution of social security’ (2016) 16 Edinburgh Law Review 382.
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18 Campbell, ibid.
19 See Zarb Adami v Malta [2006] ECHR 17209/02; Karlheinz Schmidt v Germany [1994] ECHR 13580/88 (ECHR 18 July 1994).
20 A Zaidi Welfare-to-Work Programmes in the UK and Lessons for Other Countries (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research Policy Brief 10, October 2009) p 1, available at https://www.euro.centre.org/publications/detail/384.
21 M Quaid Workfare: Why Good Social Policy Ideas Go Bad (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002) pp 9, 19–20.
22 M Ahluwalia and J Tomlinson ‘Benefit sanctions, illegality and administrative justice: after judicial review?’ (2018) 23 Judicial Review 225.
23 Welfare Reform Act 2012, ss 3(1)(a), 4(1)(e).
24 Ibid, s 14.
25 Ibid, ss 19–22.
26 Ibid, s 13.
27 Ibid, s 18(2).
28 R (on the application of Reilly and Another) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2013] UKSC 68, [65].
29 DWP ‘Advice for decision making: staff guide’ (2013 as updated to 24 November 2022) para J3001, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-for-decision-making-staff-guide.
30 Ibid, at J3005.
31 Ibid, at J3007.
32 Ibid, at J3253.
33 P Dwyer ‘Questions of conduct and social justice: the ethics of welfare conditionality within UK social security’ in Eleveld et al (eds), above n 8, at loc 4076, 4340. See also loc 4320.
34 DWP, above n 29, at K2053.
35 Zero-hours contracts refer to a range of varied contractual arrangements ‘in which workers are not guaranteed any hours of work in a particular period’: A Adams and J Prassl Zero-Hours Work in the United Kingdom (International Labour Office Conditions of Work and Employment Series No 101, 2018) at 1, available at https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_624965.pdf.
36 DWP response to Freedom of Information request from Adam Wilson (20 January 2015), available at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/243744/response/607340/attach/html/2/FOI%205325%20reply.pdf.html. See further, text at n 121.
37 R Mason ‘Jobseekers being forced into zero-hours roles’ (The Guardian, 5 May 2014), available at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/05/jobseekers-zero-hours-contracts.
38 ONS ‘EMP17: People in employment on zero-hours contracts’ (14 February 2023), available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/emp17peopleinemploymentonzerohourscontracts.
39 D Kamerāde and L Scullion ‘Welcome to Britain: a land where jobs may be plentiful but are more and more precarious’ (The Conversation, 21 November 2017), available at https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-britain-a-land-where-jobs-may-be-plentiful-but-are-more-and-more-precarious-87423.
40 S Wright and P Dwyer ‘In-work Universal Credit: claimant experiences of conditionality mismatches and counterproductive benefit sanctions’ (2022) 51 Journal of Social Policy 20 at 28. See also Welfare Conditionality Project Final Findings: Universal Credit (2018) p 8 available at www.welfareconditionality.ac.uk.
41 Wright and Dwyer, ibid, at 27. See also Dwyer, above n 33, at loc 4320.
42 DWP, above n 29 at K1013–1016.
43 Ibid, at K2004-2009. Reasonableness refers to the standard of the objective reasonable person in the claimant's ‘particular circumstances’ (K2021–2022). Individual circumstances refer to the claimants ‘complex needs’ such as issues with literacy, numeracy, language, domestic circumstances, emergencies, and mental health (K2053).
44 Ibid, at J3002; Welfare Reform Act 2012, ss 26, 27.
45 Universal Credit Regulations 2013, SI 2013/376, reg 111(1).
46 Ibid, reg 102. The original duration of 1095 days for repeat failures was reduced to 182 days by the Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit (Higher-Level Sanctions) (Amendment) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/1357, reg 3.
47 Welfare Reform Act 2012, s 29. Universal Credit Regulations 2013, SI 2013/376, regs 116, 119.
48 Department for Work and Pensions 21st Century Welfare Cm 7913, July 2010, p 2.
49 Department for Work and Pensions Universal Credit: Welfare that Works Cm7957, Nov 2010, pp 6, 11.
50 Ibid, pp 6, 28.
51 I Newman ‘Work as a route out of poverty: a critical evaluation of the UK welfare to work policy’ (2011) 32 Policy Studies 91 at 94.
52 C Grover ‘Violent proletarianization: social murder, the reserve army of labour and social security ‘austerity’ in Britain’ (2019) 39 Critical Social Policy 335 at 336.
53 Eleveld et al ‘Welfare to work…’, above n 11, at loc 294.
54 P Dwyer ‘Creeping conditionality in the UK: from welfare rights to conditional entitlements?’ (2004) 29(2) Canadian Journal of Sociology 265; D Edmiston ‘Welfare, austerity and social citizenship in the UK’ (2017) 16 Social Policy & Society 261 at 262.
55 Wright and Dwyer, above n 40, at 22.
56 Mantouvalou, above n 5, at 929.
57 Edmiston, above n 54, at 263, 265–266. See also Cain, above n 17; K Reeve ‘Welfare conditionality, benefit sanctions and homelessness in the UK: ending the “something for nothing culture” or punishing the poor?’ (2017) 25 Social Justice 65; B Watts et al Welfare Sanctions and Conditionality in the UK (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2014), available at https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/welfare-sanctions-and-conditionality-uk.
58 Grover, above n 52, at 338–339.
59 Destitution may be defined as the inability to secure ‘adequate accommodation’ or the inability to meet ‘essential living needs’: Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s 95(3). A wider conception suggests that individuals are destitute if they ‘can only access essential needs through charitable or family support’: G McKeever and T Walsh ‘The moral hazard of conditionality: restoring the integrity of social security law’ (2020) 5 Australian Journal of Social Issues 73 at 75.
60 J Redman, ‘“Chatting shit” in the jobcentre: navigating workfare policy at the street-level’ (2021) Work, Employment and Society 1 at 14–16. See also Grover, above n 52, at 348.
61 See E Williams ‘Punitive welfare reform and claimant mental health: the impact of benefit sanctions on anxiety and depression’ (2021) 55 Social Policy & Administration 157. See also National Audit Office Benefit Sanctions HC 628, 30 November 2016, para 3.17.
62 Decisions to apply a sanction rose from 438 in May 2016 to a pre-Covid peak of 22,567 in July 2019. Post-Covid, rates have exceeded pre-Covid levels with 37,701 decisions in December 2021 and 38, 244 in January 2022. In January 2022, of approximately 2 million claimants who could be sanctioned, there were 75,059 (3.74%) affected by sanctions. In February 2022, the figure was similar with 78,762 (3.90%) affected by sanctions: Department of Work & Pensions Benefit Sanctions Statistics to January 2022 (experimental) (17 May 2022), tables 1.1, and 2.1, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jobseekers-allowance-sanctions.
63 Welfare Conditionality Project Final Findings Report (2018) pp 23–24, available at www.welfareconditionality.ac.uk.
64 See S Wright et al ‘Punitive benefit sanctions, welfare conditionality, and the social abuse of unemployed people in Britain: transforming claimants into offenders?’ (2020) 54 Social Policy & Administration 278 at 284–292.
65 Department for Work and Pensions 21st Century Welfare Cm 7913, July 2010, p 5.
66 Newman, above n 51, at 103–104; Dean, above n 4, at 585.
67 Welfare Conditionality Project, above n 40, pp 6, 8–10.
68 McKeever and Walsh, above n 59, at 83.
69 Arts 2 (right to life) and 8 (right to private and family life) may also be relevant: C O'Cinneide ‘A modest proposal: destitution, state responsibility and the European Convention on Human Rights’ (2008) European Human Rights Law Review 583 at 584.
70 Mantouvalou, above n 5, at 950–951. See also O'Cinneide, ibid, at 587–590; L Lavrysen ‘Poverty and human rights: a European perspective’ in E Brems et al (eds) Human Rights and Development: Legal Perspectives from and for Ethiopia (Leiden: Brill, 2015) p 303 at pp 308–309.
71 M Adler Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment? Benefit Sanctions in the UK (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018); McKeever and Walsh, above n 59, at 82.
72 M Simpson ‘“Designed to reduce people to complete destitution”: human dignity in the active welfare state’ (2015) European Human Rights Law Review 66 at 76–77; Mantouvalou, above n 5, at 951. The difficulty of showing a violation of Art 3 is discussed further at n 99.
73 See Reilly, above n 28, at [79]. See also Determinations by Social Security Commissioner ‘Application for leave to appeal on a question of law from the decision of an appeal tribunal’, CSJSA/495/2007, May QC, Commissioner.
74 X v the Netherlands [1976] European Commission 7602/02; Talmon v the Netherlands [1997] European Commission 30300/96; Schuitemaker v the Netherlands [2010] ECHR 15906/08.
75 Reilly, above n 28, at [18], [21], [27].
76 Reilly, above n 28, at [89]–[90], per Lords Neuberger and Toulson. See also Determinations by Social Security Commissioner, above n 73.
77 Schuitemaker, above n 74.
78 Dermine, above n 8, at 772.
79 Tyrer v the United Kingdom [1978] ECHR 5856/72 at [31]; F Dorssemont ‘The European Convention on Human Rights as a fountain of labour rights’ in JR Bellace and B ter Haar (eds) Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights Law (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2019) p 314 at p 317.
80 Dermine, above n 8, at 771.
81 UN Human Rights Committee, Communication No 1036/2001 (UN Doc CCPR/C/85/D/1036/2001, 2005) at [7.3].
82 Ibid, at [6.3].
83 See Svinarenko and Slyadnev v Russia [2014] ECHR 32541/08; 43441/08 at [70], [132].
84 ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No 29), Art 2; Van der Mussele v Belgium [19830 ECHR 8919/80 at [32]; Siliadin v France [2005] ECHR 73316/01 at [115]–[117]; CN and V v France [2012] ECHR 67724/09 at [71].
85 SM v Croatia [2020] ECHR 60561/14 at [300]. See also Reilly, above n 28, at [81], [89].
86 Oxford English Dictionary Online (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021), available at http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/139990.
87 Van der Mussele, above n 84, at [35].
88 Welfare Reform Act 2012, ss 26, 27.
89 J Hyman ‘Voluntariness and intention’ (2016) 7 Jurisprudence 692 at 695.
90 See Eleveld et al ‘The prohibition of forced labour…’, above n 11, at loc 2636–2643. The cases relied on are the Danish Supreme Court Judgment U 2006.77H and a 2010 Dutch Central Appeals Tribunal (no citation provided).
91 Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi; ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67.
92 Ibid, at [99]–[100] per Lords Neuberger and Sumption (Lord Carnwath agreeing), [152] per Lord Mance, and [255] per Lord Hodge.
93 DR Fletcher and S Wright ‘A hand up or a slap down? Criminalising benefit claimants in Britain via strategies of surveillance, sanctions and deterrence’ (2018) 38 Critical Social Policy 323 at 333–334. See also Wright and Dwyer, above n 40, at 25–26.
94 House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee Benefit Sanctions Nineteenth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 955, 31 October 2018, p 19, available at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmworpen/955/955.pdf.
95 See Department of Work and Pensions The Jobcentre Plus Offer: Final Evaluation Report (2013) p 162.
96 Fletcher and Wright, above n 93, at 334.
97 S Clarke ‘Do benefit sanctions breach Article 3 ECHR?’ Public Law Project Blog (29 May 2019), available at https://publiclawproject.org.uk/uncategorized/do-benefit-sanctions-breach-article-3-echr/.
98 R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Adam, Limbuela, and Tesema [2005] UKHL 66 at [7].
99 Budina v Russia [2009] ECHR 45603/05.
100 O'Rourke v UK [2001] ECHR 39022/97.
101 MSS v Belgium and Greece [2011] ECHR 30696/09 at [230]–[234].
102 R (on the application of Q and Others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2003] EWCA Civ 364 at [45]–[63]. See also ex p Adam, Limbuela, and Tesema, above n 98.
103 Foreign workers may also constitute a vulnerable group where the state restricts their agency through restrictive employment regulations such as the Kafala system, which leaves workers open to abuse by unscrupulous employers: A Almutawa and KM Aldweri ‘Bahrain's pioneering role in the protection of the rights of temporary workers in the Gulf region’ (2020) 4 The Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law 349.
104 See C Heri Responsive Human Rights: Vulnerability, Ill-treatment and the ECtHR (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2021) pp 204–230, particularly p 213.
105 O'Rourke v UK, above n 100.
106 Ex p Adam, Limbuela, and Tesema, above n 98, at [7] per Lord Bingham. See Clarke, above n 97.
107 Dermine, above n 8, at 770.
108 CN and V v France, above n 84, at [77]; Report of the Director-General The Cost of Coercion: Global Report under the Follow up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (Report 1B, International Labour Conference 98th Session, 2009) at para 24.
109 X v the Netherlands, above n 74.
110 Stec and Others v the United Kingdom [2006] ECHR 65731/01; 65900/01 at [53].
111 House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, above n 94, pp 40–41.
112 Reilly, above n 28, at [82].
113 Siliadin, above n 84, at [118].
114 CN and V v France, above n 84, at [74]. See also Chowdury and Others v Greece [2017] ECHR 21884/15 at [90]–[91].
115 Schuitemaker, above n 74.
116 J Hyman ‘Voluntariness and choice’ (2013) 63 The Philosophical Quarterly 683 at 684, 695.
117 Pakistan International Airline Corporation v Times Travel (UK) Ltd [2021] UKSC 40 at [2] per Lord Hodge (Lords Reed, Lloyd-Jones and Kitchin agreeing).
118 Siliadin, above n 84, at [119].
119 Hyman, above n 116, at 691.
120 Siliadin, above n 84, at [119].
121 See H Lambie-Mumford ‘“Every town should have one”: emergency food banking in the UK’ (2013) 42 Journal of Social Policy 73; Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (A/HRC/41/39/Add.1, 23 April 2019) at para 47. This point depends on the availability of charitable support. Indeed, where it is accessible, charitable support may be sufficient to prevent a violation of Art 3 in the context of asylum seekers who are not lawfully allowed to work and have been denied support by the Secretary of State: R (on the application of Q and Others), above n 102, at [63]. See also rx p Adam, Limbuela, and Tesema, above n 98, at [61].
122 Report of the Director-General, above n 108, at para 23.
123 X v the Netherlands, above n 74; Talmon v the Netherlands, above n 74; Schuitemaker v the Netherlands, above n 74.
124 This is acknowledged in DWP guidance, which notes that the claimant commitment is too generic to constitute a ‘personal commitment’ to carry out a specific work-related activity, which requires additional information: DWP, above n 29, at J1004.
125 Van der Mussele, above n 84, at [36]–[37].
126 Ibid, at [39].
127 See the discussion in section 1, text at n 69.
128 Mantouvalou, above n 5, at 936–937; Mantouvalou, above n 12, at 436.
129 See D Seikel and D Spannagel ‘Activation and in-work poverty’ in H Lohmann and I Marx (eds) Handbook on In-Work Poverty (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2018) p 245.
130 See T Campbell ‘Poverty as a violation of human rights: inhumanity or injustice?’ in T Pogge (ed) Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right: Who Owes What to the Very Poor? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) p 55.
131 Ibid, p 56.
132 Ibid. See also Md Arifuzzman et al ‘Exploration of poverty and human rights violation: a legal analysis’ (2021) 3 Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Legal Studies 10; F Doz Costa ‘Poverty and human rights from rhetoric to legal obligations: a critical account of conceptual frameworks’ (2008) 5 SUR International Journal on Human Rights 81; T Pogge ‘Severe poverty as a human rights violation’ in MT Kamminga (ed) Challenges in International Human Rights Law, Volume III (London: Routledge, 2017) p 721.
133 See text at n 69 and at n 98.
134 Welfare Reform Act 2012, s 17(1) and Explanatory Notes.
135 See also above, text at nn 35–40.
136 C Stevens MP and A Sharma MP ‘Universal Credit: zero-hours contracts’ (UIN197460, 29 November 2018), available at https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-11-29/197460/.
137 N Datta et al ‘Zero-hours contracts and labour market policy’ (2019) 34 Economic Policy 369 at 373; E Farina et al ‘Zero-hours contracts and their growth’ (2020) 58 British Journal of Industrial Relations 507 at 514.
138 Including Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Sweden: Adams and Prassl, above n 35, at 6.
139 See Stevens and Sharma, above n 136.
140 DL Blustein et al ‘Decent work: a psychological perspective’ (2016) 7 Frontiers in Psychology 1 at 5.
141 M Taylor et al Good Work: The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices (July 2017) pp 9, 14, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-work-the-taylor-review-of-modern-working-practices.
142 Farina at al, above n 137, at 507, 514.
143 DWP ‘Guidance: Universal Credit work allowances’ (12 April 2021), available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-work-allowances/universal-credit-work-allowances#.
144 P Dwyer and S Wright ‘Universal Credit, ubiquitous conditionality and its implications for social citizenship’ (2014) 22 Journal of Poverty and Social Justice 27 at 31.
145 Adams and Prassl, above n 35, at 21.
146 Reilly, above n 28, at [83].
147 Wright and Dwyer, above n 40, at 26–27.
148 Van der Mussele, above n 84, at [40].
149 Welfare Reform Act 2012, s 17(1) and Explanatory Notes; Universal Credit Regulations 2013, SI 2013/376, regs 88(1), 97(3).
150 Although capped at £1108.04 per month for two or more children, UC provides up to 85% of childcare costs for working parents. See UK Government ‘Universal Credit: childcare guide’ (17 October 2022), available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-childcare/universal-credit-childcare-guide#hours-free-childcare.
151 CN and V v France, above n 84, at [74]. See also Chowdury, above n 114, at [90]–[91].
152 Van der Mussele, above n 84, at [37]–[39].
153 Reilly, above n 28, at [81]–[90].
154 See section 2(d) for further discussion.
155 Report of the Director-General, above n 108, at para 43.
156 Reilly, above n 28, at [81].
157 Report of the Director-General A Global Alliance against Forced Labour: Global Report under the Follow Up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (Report 1B, International Labour Conference 93rd Session, 2005) at para 31.
158 Report of the Director-General, above n 108, at para 43.
159 Report of the Director-General, above n 157, at para 31; ILO Forced Labour and Human Trafficking: A Handbook for Labour Inspectors (2008) p 5, available at https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_097835.pdf.
160 Report of the Director-General, above n 108, at para 44.
161 SM v Croatia, above n 85, at [300].
162 J Morgan and W Olsen ‘Forced and unfree labour: an analysis’ (2014) 4 International Critical Thought 21 at 22.
163 SM v Croatia, above n 85, at [329].
164 H Steiner ‘A liberal theory of exploitation’ (1984) 94 Ethics 225; AW Wood ‘Exploitation’ (1995) 12 Social Philosophy and Policy 136; R Mayer ‘What's wrong with exploitation?’ (2007) 24 Journal of Applied Philosophy 137.
165 A Wertheimer Exploitation (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1999) p 16; R Arneson ‘Exploitation and outcome’ (2013) 12 Politics, Philosophy & Economics 392; MR Reiff Exploitation and Economic Justice in the Liberal Capitalist State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013) p 27; J Collins ‘Exploitation of persons and the limits of the criminal law’ (2017) 3 Criminal Law Review 169 at 171.
166 Mayer, above n 164, at 140; AW Wood ‘Unjust exploitation’ (2016) 54 Southern Journal of Philosophy 92, 96.
167 Arneson, above n 165, at 394.
168 Mayer, above n 164, at 142, 144.
169 Mantouvalou, above n 5, at 936–937; Mantouvalou above n 12, at 436–438.
170 See R v SK [2011] EWCA Crim 1691 at [44].
171 Chowdury, above n 114, at [98]. See also Balogh v Hick Lane Bedding Ltd [2021] EWHC 1140 (QB).
172 Chowdury, above n 114, at [97]–[98].
173 Reilly, above n 28, at [89].
174 R v SK, above n 170, at [49].
175 X v the Netherlands, above n 74.
176 MS (Trafficking – Tribunal Powers – Art 4 ECHR) [2016] UKUT 00226 (IAC) at [51]. See also MS (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 9.
177 A v Abu [2017] EWHC 3098 (QB) at [93].
178 MS (Trafficking), above n 176, at [50]–[52].
179 Attorney General's Reference (Nos 2, 3, 4, and 5 of 2013) [2013] EWCA Crim 324 at [12], [20].
180 See Schuitemaker, above 74.
181 Report of the Director-General, above n 108, at para 23.
182 Reilly, above n 28, at [83].
183 Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit (Higher-Level Sanctions) (Amendment) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/1357, reg 3.
184 Arneson, above n 165, at 399.
185 Reilly, above n 28, at [83].
186 See below, text at n 187.
187 Van der Mussele, above n 84, at [38].
188 Reilly, above n 28, at [81].
189 G ten Berge ‘Towards an equilibrium between citizens’ rights and civic duties in relation to government’ (2007) 3 Utrecht Law Review 219 at 220, 221.
190 See J Pykett et al ‘Framing the good citizen’ (2010) 12 British Journal of Politics and International Relations 523; A de Koning et al ‘Citizenship agendas in and beyond the nation state: (en)countering framings of the good citizen’ (2015) 19 Citizenship Studies 121.
191 See Dermine , above n 8, at 752–764.
192 Zarb Adami v Malta, above n 19, at [47]. Other examples include compulsory participation in the provision of a fire service (Karlheinz Schmidt v Germany, above n 19, at [23]), the unremunerated performance of medical examinations (Reitmayr v Austria [1995] European Commission 23866/94), and the provision of free legal representation for indigent persons (Van der Mussele, above n 84).
193 ten Berge, above n 189, at 220.
194 Faure, above n 81, at [7.5].
195 Reilly, above n 28, at [82].
196 Mantouvalou, above n 5, at 931, 943, 946.
197 S Deakin and F Wilkinson The Law of the Labour Market (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) pp 134, 198–199.
198 D Freud Reducing Dependency, Increasing Opportunity: Options for the Future of Welfare to Work (Independent Report to the Department for Work and Pensions, 2007) p 77; ID Smith ‘Foreword by the Secretary of State’ in Department for Work and Pensions, 21st Century Welfare Cm 7913, July 2010, p 1.
199 Mayer, above n 164, at 141.
200 A Molander and G Torsvik ‘Getting people into work: what (if anything) can justify mandatory activation of welfare recipients?’ (2015) 32 Journal of Applied Philosophy 373 at 381.
201 Schuitemaker, above n 74.
202 Van der Mussele, above n 84, at [40].
203 Ibid, at [37]–[38]; Z Leventhal ‘Focus on Article 4 of the ECHR’ (2005) Juridical Review 237 at 239.
204 Steindel v Germany [2010] ECHR 29878/07.
205 Albeit that the in-work benefits scheme is not without its problems. For a valuable critique see K Puttick ‘From mini to maxi jobs? Low pay, “progression”, and the duty to work (harder)’ (2019) 48 Industrial Law Journal 143.
206 M Koumenta and M Williams ‘An anatomy of zero-hours contracts in the UK’ (2019) 50 Industrial Relations Journal 20 at 36.
207 M Chobli ‘The duty to work’ (2018) 21 Ethical Theory and Practice 1119 at 1124.
208 Department for Work and Pensions ‘2010 to 2015 government policy: welfare reform’ (2013, as updated to 8 May 2015), available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-welfare-reform.
209 R Patrick ‘Work as the primary “duty” of the responsible citizen: a critique of this work-centric approach’ (2012) 6 People, Place and Policy Online 5 at 7.
210 Department for Work and Pensions Raising Expectations and Increasing Support: Reforming Welfare for the Future, Cmnd 7506, December 2008, p 38.
211 Dermine, above n 8, at loc 1690. For Dermine, proportionality should be determined by four criteria: quality of work; exit options (the severity of sanctions and the availability of subsistence); the ability of claimants to be heard or have a ‘voice’ (options to refuse, power influence work assignments, right of appeal); the scheme's goals and effects.
212 M Wilińska et al ‘“When I'm 65”: on the age-negotiated duty to work’ (2021) 35 Work, Employment and Society 21 at 22.
213 Reilly, above n 28.
214 L Graham ‘Strategic admissibility decisions in the European Court of Human Rights’ (2020) 69 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 79 at 101–102.
215 Tyrer v the UK, above n 79, at [31]. See S Theil ‘Is the “living instrument” approach of the European Court of Human Rights compatible with the ECHR and international law?’ (2017) 23 European Public Law 587.
216 Z and Others v the UK [2001] ECHR 29392/95 at [103].
217 For a critical overview see A Mowbray ‘Subsidiarity and the European Convention on Human Rights’ (2015) 15 Human Rights Law Review 313.
218 J-M Sauvé ‘Subsidiarity: a two-sided coin?’ (Speech delivered to the European Court of Human Rights Seminar on the role of the national authorities, Strasbourg, 30 January 2015), available at https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Speech_20150130_Seminar_JMSauv%C3%A9_ENG.pdf.
219 Protocol No 15 amending the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Principles (2013), Art 1. The Protocol entered into force on 1 August 2021: Council of Europe ‘Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 213’, available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/213/signatures?module=treaty-detail&treatynum=213. See also D Spielmann ‘Whither the margin of appreciation?’ (2014) 67 Current Legal Problems 49 at 65.
220 Sauvé, above n 218.
221 A von Staden ‘The democratic legitimacy of judicial review beyond the state: normative subsidiarity and judicial standards of review’ (2012) 10 International Journal of Constitutional Law 1023 at 1026, 1037.
222 SAS v France [2014] ECHR 43835/11 at [154].
223 R Spano ‘The future of the European Court of Human Rights – subsidiarity, process-based review and the rule of law’ (2018) 18 Human Rights Law Review 473.
224 Joint Committee on Human Rights Legislative Scrutiny: Welfare Reform Bill Twenty-first Report of Session 2010–2012, HL 233, HC 1704, 23 December 2011 (TSO, 2011) para 1.37.
225 A Simola and S Wrede ‘Young EU migrant citizens’ access to financial independence in conditions of precarious work: a tripartite approach to welfare conditionality’ (2020) Journal of European Social Policy 1 at 4.
226 Von Hannover v Germany (No 2) [2012] ECHR 40660/08; 60641/08 at [107].
227 D Spielmann ‘Whither the margin of appreciation?’ UCL Current Legal Problems Lecture (London, 20 March 2014) p 12, available at https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Speech_20140320_London_ENG.pdf.
228 Madsen, MR ‘The challenging authority of the European Court of Human Rights: from cold war legal diplomacy to the Brighton Declaration and backlash’ (2016) 79 Law and Contemporary Problems 141Google Scholar at 144, 151.
229 Bates, E ‘British sovereignty and the European Court of Human Rights’ (2012) 128 Law Quarterly Review 382Google Scholar at 410–411.
230 Madsen, above n 228, at 170, 174; Vinters v the UK [2013] ECHR 66069/09; 130/10; 3896/10; Hirst (No 2) v UK [2005] ECHR 74025/01.
231 H Fenwick and R Masterman ‘The conservative project to “break the link between British courts and Strasbourg’: rhetoric or reality?’ (2017) 80 Modern Law Review 1111 at 1129–1130; Madsen, above n 228, at 171. See also Bratza, N ‘The relationship between the UK courts and Strasbourg’ (2011) 5 European Human Rights Law Review 505Google Scholar.
232 Ø Stiansen and E Voeten ‘Backlash and judicial restraint: evidence from the European Court of Human Rights’ (2020) 64 International Studies Quarterly 770.
233 Bates, above n 229, at 409.
234 Bellamy, R ‘Political constitutionalism and the Human Rights Act’ (2011) 9 International Journal of Constitutional Law 86CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 110–111.
235 Tan, G ‘Children's rights and the influence of Lord Sales in the UKSC's political constitutionalist turn’ (2022) 26 Edinburgh Law Review 93CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 94.
236 R (on the application of SC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2021] UKSC 26.
237 Ibid, at [146]. “Suspect” grounds include sex or gender, birth status, nationality, sexual orientation, race or ethnic origin, religious belief, disabilities and HIV status (at [101]–[113]).
238 Ibid, at [158].
239 Ibid, at [187].
240 Ibid, at [208]–[209].
241 Including the scope, intensity and ‘rights-centred perspective’ of any parliamentary debate. See Sales, P ‘Partnership and challenge: the courts’ role in managing integration of rights and democracy’ [2016] Public Law 456Google Scholar at 458–464.
242 Clarke, C ‘Now you see them, now you don't: the role of children's interests in social security law’ (2022) 29 Journal of Social Security Law 12Google Scholar at 26; Campbell, above n 17, at 1222.
243 Sayer, T ‘Manifest unreasonableness in the UK Supreme Court: a doctrine working itself pure’ (2022) 33 King's Law Journal 122CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 145.
244 Although written before the Supreme Court's hearing of the case, for a powerful critique of the domestic courts’ failure to interrogate the substantive inequalities of the present welfare policies, see Campbell, above n 17.
245 Clarke, above n 242, at 26; Machin, R ‘The two-child limit for benefits in the Supreme Court: implications for public health’ (2022) 142 Perspectives in Public Health 137CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.
246 R (on the application of SC), above n 236, at [207].