CANT v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
David Thór Björgvinsson;Giovanni Bonello;Lech Garlicki;Ledi Bianku;Nicolas Bratza;Stanislav Pavlovschi
The applicant, Mr Robert Cant, is a British national who was born in 1947 and lives in Kent. He was represented before the Court by Royds Rdw, solicitors in London. The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr C. Whomersley of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. The applicant’s wife died on 9 April 1999. They had no children from the marriage. In November 2000 the applicant applied for widows’ benefits. On 11 December 2000 the applicant was informed that his claim had been disallowed as he was not a woman. The applicant made a request for reconsideration. On 22 March 2001 he was informed that he was not entitled to benefits as he was not a woman. The applicant did not appeal further as he considered or was advised that such a remedy would be bound to fail since no such social security benefit was payable to widowers under United Kingdom law. The domestic law relevant to this application is set out in Runkee and White v. the United Kingdom, no. 42949/98, §§ 40-41, 25 July 2007.