WILLIAMS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
Giovanni Bonello;Ján Šikuta;Lech Garlicki;Ledi Bianku;Nicolas Bratza;Päivi Hirvelä
The applicant, Mr Dennis Williams, is a British national who lives in Warwickshire. He was represented before the Court by Ms J. Tonks, a welfare rights adviser in Warwickshire. 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 19 September 1998. On 2 July 2001, the applicant made a claim for widows’ benefits. Subsequently 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 23 August 2001. Subsequently 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 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.