HUTCHINS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
David Thór Björgvinsson;Giovanni Bonello;Lech Garlicki;Ledi Bianku;Mihai Poalelungi;Nicolas Bratza
The applicant, Mr John Hutchins, is a British national who was born in 1945 and lives in Wirral. He was represented before the Court by Ms A. Williams from the Citizens Advice Bureau. 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 10 May 1992. At the time he enquired about widows’ benefits but was not issued with the relevant form. His claim for widows’ benefits was then made on 23 August 2002 and was rejected in September 2002 on the ground that he was not entitled to widows’ benefits because he was not a woman. On 23 April 2003 the decision was upheld by an appeal tribunal. 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 benefits were payable to widowers under United Kingdom law. The applicant was not in receipt of child benefit at the time of his claim. The domestic law relevant to this application is set out in Willis v. the United Kingdom, no. 36042/97, §§ 1426, ECHR 2002-IV and Runkee and White v. the United Kingdom, no. 42949/98, §§ 40-41, 25 July 2007.