‘The Government has established a new working group to produce a “working definition” of Anti-Muslim Hatred and Islamophobia. It will advise government on how best to understand, quantify and define prejudice, discrimination, and hate crime targeted against Muslims.’
Law & Religion UK, 5th March 2025
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘Introduction
1. On 12 February 2025 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in Higgs v Farmor’s School.
Facts
2. Mrs Higgs had been employed by Farmor’s School for six years, latterly in two roles, as a pastoral administrator (with responsibility for overseeing students removed from class for disruptive behaviour) and as a work experience manager. She has two children, one of whom was a pupil at the School [1].
3. Mrs Higgs is a Christian. She believes in the literal truth of the Bible, that marriage is a divinely instituted life-long union between a man and a woman, and that she should witness to Biblical truth. She is opposed to relationship education for primary school children and does not believe that someone can change their biological sex [27].
4. Mrs Higgs had a private Facebook account in her maiden name. Nothing on her Facebook account linked her to the School.
5. On 24.10.2018 Mrs Higgs posted the text of an article critical of the government’s decision to introduce mandatory relationship education in primary schools. The article stated that “children will be taught that all relationships are equally valid and ‘normal,’ so that same sex marriage is exactly the same as traditional marriage, and that gender is a matter of choice, not biology…freedom of belief will be destroyed, with freedom of speech permitted only for those who tow the party line! We say again, this is a vicious form of totalitarianism aimed at suppressing Christianity…” Mrs Higgs added an introductory title (stating children were being brainwashed) and a request to sign a petition [10].
6. On 27.10.2018 Mrs Higgs reposted an article from a US website about two story books for primary school children which allegedly promoted ideas of gender fluidity [12].
7. One of Mrs Higgs’ Facebook ‘friends’ complained to the School that “a member of your staff who works directly with children has been posting homophobic and prejudiced views against the LGBT community on Facebook” [9]. The complainant attached screenshots of the posts.
8. On 30.10.2018 Mrs Higgs attended a meeting at the School about the posts. She accepted the posts might be considered offensive or prejudiced but stated she was not against and had no “issues” with gay, lesbian or transgender people. Rather, she was opposed to the government’s policy of relationship education for primary school children.
9. On 31.10.2018 the School suspended Mrs Higgs and initiated a disciplinary investigation into her alleged contraventions of its Code of Conduct, including communications which could amount to illegal discrimination, and serious inappropriate use of social media that could bring the School into disrepute and damage its reputation.
10. In one of the investigation meetings, Mrs Higgs was asked if the posts might compromise her position of trust working with children. She rejected this: “Students know me and I know gay students, I wouldn’t treat any of them any different. … I wouldn’t bring this into School” [16]. The School uncovered no evidence of Mrs Higgs expressing views about gender fluidity or same-sex marriage to pupils or staff or treating gay, lesbian or transgender pupils or staff differently [17]. Nonetheless the investigating officer found there was a case to answer on all allegations of misconduct.
11.Following a disciplinary hearing, the School summarily dismissed Mrs Higgs. She appealed, unsuccessfully, then brought a claim for direct religion or belief discrimination and harassment related to religion or belief, claiming that she had been dismissed because she had manifested her beliefs (as set out at §3 above) [26-28].
Cloisters Chambers, 28th February 2025
Source: www.cloisters.com
‘A recent judgment by the Court of Appeal in England emphasises that while employers can continue to set and uphold standards of respectful behaviour at work, care is required when employees exercise their right to manifest protected beliefs, employment experts have said.’
OUT-LAW.com, 20th February 2025
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘The Court of Appeal has today upheld the guidance provided by the EAT, that was proposed by Sarah Fraser Butlin KC for the Archbishops’ Council, in a major decision concerning the question of how courts and tribunals should approach religious or philosophical belief discrimination cases concerning the manifestation of belief – when people are treated less favourably because they have done or said something expressing their protected beliefs. The guidance will be of real practical assistance to employers and employees.’
Cloisters Chambers, 12th February 2025
Source: www.cloisters.com
‘The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal from a Christian school employee who was dismissed because she posted messages on her personal Facebook account opposing the teaching in schools, and in particular primary schools, of “gender fluidity” and that same-sex marriage is equivalent to marriage between a man and a woman.’
Local Government Lawyer, 12th February 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Religious hate crimes in England and Wales have soared by 25% to record levels, coinciding with the Israel-Hamas conflict, government statistics show.’
The Guardian, 10th October 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A constable in the Metropolitan Police has been dismissed for using antisemitic language at work.’
BBC News, 9th September 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Two Muslim women are suing one of the UK’s biggest banks for discrimination after being disciplined for posting pro-Palestine messages in an internal work forum for Muslim staff.’
The Independent, 15th July 2024
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Readers with long memories may recall that when Felix Ngole was a second-year Master’s student on a social work course at Sheffield University, he was excluded from the course by the Faculty of Social Sciences Fitness to Practise Committee after comments he had posted on Facebook about his personal opposition to same-sex marriage. He sought judicial review of that decision, and though the Administrative Court found for the University, in R (Ngole) v The University of Sheffield [2019] EWCA Civ 1127 the Court of Appeal allowed his appeal and remitted his case for reconsideration. We noted the appeal here.’
Law & Religion UK, 2nd July 2024
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘The relationship between Islam, religious freedom, and human rights has long been a subject of debate in Britain. However, the significance of the latest instalment in this saga, the judgment of R v Michaela Community Schools Trust, lies not in Islam’s relationship with secularism or human rights but instead in illustrating the incoherence of British ideas on freedom of religion.’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 16th May 2024
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
‘The case of R (TTT) v Michaela Community Schools Trust [2024] EWHC 843 (Admin) in the High Court before Mr Justice Linden concerned a claim brought by a pupil referred to as a TTT (“the Claimant”) against the Michaela Community Schools Trust; (“the School”). The School is a secular secondary free school in the London Borough of Brent, which appeared as an interested party. The School is ethnically and religiously diverse, although over half of the pupils, including the Claimant are Muslims.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 15th May 2024
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘The High Court has dismissed a challenge from a pupil at the Michaela Community School, a secondary school in Wembley, London, who argued that a ban on prayer in the school was a breach of the Equality Act as well as her Human Rights. There was also a related challenge to two suspensions that the pupil had received on the basis that they were not procedurally fair.’
Local Government Lawyer, 10th May 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘In Ghaoui v London Borough of Waltham Forest [2024] EWCA Civ 405, Mr Ghaoui, his wife and two young children lived in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. They were rendered homeless in April 2019 and Mr Ghaoui applied to the local authority for assistance with accommodation. In September 2019, he sent his older child to a fee-paying Muslim nursery in Waltham Forest [2]. The family was evicted in March 2020 and Waltham Forest LBC provided temporary accommodation in the Harlow area, some 20 miles from their previous address, which made it harder for the parents to get to work in London and for the child to go to the nursery [3]. In early September 2022, the younger child entered the same nursery [5]. Mr Ghaoui argued that in offering them accommodation 20 miles from the school, Waltham Forest was “not considering their rights”, while Waltham Forest explained at some length that it was not under any legal duty to provide accommodation that allowed the children to attend a specific religious school: in short, it was not a housing “need” [6]. The point at issue was whether or not the local authority was, in fact, under any such obligation.’
Law & Religion UK, 1st May 2024
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘The media reports of the last few months highlight how controversial and charged the decision in R (on the Application of TTT) v Michaela School [2024] EWHC 843 (Admin) is. There is much to unpack and debate about the High Court’s 83-page judgment, not least how the secular approach held to be lawful in the judgment sits with a legal framework that continues to favour Christianity in terms of laws on collective worship and the teaching of religion in school.’
Law & Religion UK, 19th April 2024
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘In R (TTT, by her mother and litigation friend UUU) v Michaela Community Schools Trust & Anor [2024] EWHC 842 (Admin), the school’s governing body decided in 2023 to prohibit its pupils from performing prayer rituals on its premises after the Headteacher had banned them as an interim measure. That policy applied to all prayer rituals, regardless of religion, but there was no evidence that pupils of any religion other than Islam wished to perform prayer rituals during the school day. Muslims are required to pray five times a day. The claimant, a Muslim, accepted that the requirements of the school day meant that she would not always be able to fulfil that obligation during the appropriate period; however, she wished to be allowed to perform the midday prayer [Duhr], which during the autumn and winter months would be possible during the school lunch break – which, she argued, was “free time”.’
Law & Religion UK, 17th April 2024
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘A high court decision to uphold a prayer ban at one of the highest performing state schools in England has been welcomed by Rishi Sunak and Kemi Badenoch, who described it as a “victory against activists trying to subvert our public institutions”.’
The Guardian, 16th April 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘In Omooba v Michael Garrett Associates Ltd (t/a Global Artists) & Anor [2024] EAT 30, Ms Seyi Omooba, an actor, was cast as Celie in a stage production of The Color Purple. Celie is regarded as an iconic lesbian role and the announcement that Ms Omooba was to play it led to a social media storm about an earlier Facebook post in which she had expressed her belief that homosexuality was a sin. As a result, her contracts with the theatre (the second respondent) and her agency (the first respondent) were terminated.’
Law & Religion UK, 7th March 2024
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘In Britain, there have been a number of incidents in which Christians have been prevented from preaching in public spaces by the police. For example, the recent incident of Pastor Dwayne Lopez in Uxbridge garnered much media attention. Pastor Lopez was asked to stop preaching by several Metropolitan Police officers because it had been reported by an individual that they found him to be offensive.’
Law & Religion UK, 29th February 2024
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
‘Rebecca Denvers identifies the cases which will have a big impact on employment law and HR policies and practices over the next 12 months.’
Local Government Lawyer, 19th January 2024
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Labour is seeking to delay until after the general election a court case against five former staff alleging they leaked a report concerned with the party’s handling of antisemitism complaints, as its costs were said to have apparently soared to £1.4m.’
The Guardian, 6th October 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
© Inner Temple Library 2025