WOOD v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
Inadmissible
Giovanni Bonello;Ján Šikuta;Lech Garlicki;Ledi Bianku;Nicolas Bratza;Päivi Hirvelä
The applicant, Mr Robin Wood, is a British national who was born in 1948 and lives in Cheshire. He was represented before the Court by Pierce Glynn, 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 19 August 1999, leaving one child born in 1970. In April or May 2000 the applicant applied for widows’ benefits. On 4 May 2000 the applicant was informed that his claim had been disallowed as he was not a woman. By a letter of 12 June 2000 the benefits’ agency confirmed their decision and the lack of his right to an appeal. 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 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.