CHURCHILL v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
Giovanni Bonello;Ján Šikuta;Lech Garlicki;Ledi Bianku;Nicolas Bratza;Päivi Hirvelä
The applicant, Mr Alan Churchill, is a British national who was born in 1938 and lives in Somerset. 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 1 August 1991. On 30 January 2001, the applicant made a claim for widows’ benefits. On 9 April 2001 the applicant was sent a further application form under the new system in place as from 9 April 2001. He duly completed and returned the application form on 17 April 2001. On 30 April 2001 the applicant was informed that his claim had been disallowed as he was not entitled to the benefits at issue because his wife had died before 9 April 2001. 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 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 Runkee and White v. the United Kingdom, no. 42949/98, §§ 40-41, 25 July 2007.