Greater London Authority support: A three-week package of difficulties for nothing?
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
The new London Mayor Sadiq Khan is a former chair of Liberty, which campaigns to protect civil liberties and promote human rights – through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. Declan emailed him this afternoon having learnt that the Greater London Authority (GLA) Tenancy Sustainment Team service, operated for the Mayor by St Mungo's, breached contract with us in case notes; and this after I revealed a three-week package of difficulties in my previous blog post, Financial Ombudsman Concern - The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc. Case No: 1812-7596/RY/CD10. This is the forwarded email titled "GLA St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST): Breach of Contract":
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For our next court action
... To pick out three particular historical examples fuelling this belief [re St Mungo's] that involve a High Court action and the threat of two small claims court actions:
(i) During the second period the Claimant and his wife spent on the street between April 2013 and May 2014, St Mungo's (then called Broadway) denied them support to access the private rented sector despite the fact that the Claimant had the funds to do so. On 29 August 2013, the Claimant filed a claim in the High Court for judicial review against Commissioner of Police for the City of London Adrian Leppard and Home Secretary Theresa May, arguing that it was unreasonable for the Police Force to refuse to ask the charity to help them break an alleged accommodation blockade whilst at the same time threatening them with hosings by street cleaners. Deputy High Court Judge Bidder ruled: "The refusal of the First Defendant to ask the charity 'Broadway' to engage or help the Claimant and his wife with their welfare or accommodation is not arguably unreasonable. It is not its job to intervene in any disagreement between a charity and those seeking that charity's help."
(ii) On 8 May 2015 District Judge Brooks sitting at the County Court at Central London declared that the Single Homeless Project had "acted unlawfully in holding or uploading information about the Claimant relating to his debts, his employment status and an alleged mental health condition", and ordered the charity to pay damages to him for distress of £750. However, three months later, following a subject access request, the Claimant discovered that St Mungo's had failed to comply with the court order which also requested that it remove from its website any information about him and his wife "in relation to debts that they have, their employment status and to specifically remove the word 'grandiose'." It took St Mungo's a further six months, and the threat on 11 February 2016 of an immediate small claims court action, to finally remove from its website all inaccurate financial and other information held against the Claimant and his wife.
(iii) On 5 April 2016 the Claimant issued St Mungo's CEO Howard Sinclair a Letter Before Claim in respect of the handling of his and his wife's personal information. The Claimant challenged as misleading the decision of the charity to mark his and his wife's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST) support as closed when Housing First ceased on 31 March 2015 because "an exception was made for you in that you were not required to engage with TST", according to Mr Sinclair in an email dated 16 February 2016. The GLA had repeatedly falsely accused the Claimant and his wife in court papers of refusing support, something it could not have done had their support status been marked as 'open'. It took St Mungo's a further two weeks, and the threat on 18 April 2016 of an immediate small claims court action, to finally change the Claimant and his wife's status to 'open'.
... To pick out three particular historical examples fuelling this belief [re St Mungo's] that involve a High Court action and the threat of two small claims court actions:
(i) During the second period the Claimant and his wife spent on the street between April 2013 and May 2014, St Mungo's (then called Broadway) denied them support to access the private rented sector despite the fact that the Claimant had the funds to do so. On 29 August 2013, the Claimant filed a claim in the High Court for judicial review against Commissioner of Police for the City of London Adrian Leppard and Home Secretary Theresa May, arguing that it was unreasonable for the Police Force to refuse to ask the charity to help them break an alleged accommodation blockade whilst at the same time threatening them with hosings by street cleaners. Deputy High Court Judge Bidder ruled: "The refusal of the First Defendant to ask the charity 'Broadway' to engage or help the Claimant and his wife with their welfare or accommodation is not arguably unreasonable. It is not its job to intervene in any disagreement between a charity and those seeking that charity's help."
(ii) On 8 May 2015 District Judge Brooks sitting at the County Court at Central London declared that the Single Homeless Project had "acted unlawfully in holding or uploading information about the Claimant relating to his debts, his employment status and an alleged mental health condition", and ordered the charity to pay damages to him for distress of £750. However, three months later, following a subject access request, the Claimant discovered that St Mungo's had failed to comply with the court order which also requested that it remove from its website any information about him and his wife "in relation to debts that they have, their employment status and to specifically remove the word 'grandiose'." It took St Mungo's a further six months, and the threat on 11 February 2016 of an immediate small claims court action, to finally remove from its website all inaccurate financial and other information held against the Claimant and his wife.
(iii) On 5 April 2016 the Claimant issued St Mungo's CEO Howard Sinclair a Letter Before Claim in respect of the handling of his and his wife's personal information. The Claimant challenged as misleading the decision of the charity to mark his and his wife's Tenancy Sustainment Team (TST) support as closed when Housing First ceased on 31 March 2015 because "an exception was made for you in that you were not required to engage with TST", according to Mr Sinclair in an email dated 16 February 2016. The GLA had repeatedly falsely accused the Claimant and his wife in court papers of refusing support, something it could not have done had their support status been marked as 'open'. It took St Mungo's a further two weeks, and the threat on 18 April 2016 of an immediate small claims court action, to finally change the Claimant and his wife's status to 'open'.
HEAVEY v. THE UNITED KINGDOM
COMMUNICATION SUBMITTED FOR CONSIDERATION UNDER THE FIRST OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS
We have brought the following four actions to court orders just to keep a roof over our heads for the past two years:
Court action 1: High Court v Greater London Authority (1 September 2014), para 37(iii), p 13.
Court action 2: County Court v Single Homeless Project (12 September 2014), para 37(iii), p 13.
Court action 3: High Court v Greater London Authority (18 June 2015), para 36, p 12.
Court action 4: County Court v Greater London Authority (10 September 2015), para 36, p 12.
Related blog post 25 March 2016: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations
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From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013 for $4.67
The Life and Death of NSSM 200: How the Destruction of Political Will Doomed a U.S. Population Policy for $6.64
American Democracy and the Vatican: Population Growth and National Security for $4.99
The Pope and the New Apocalypse: The Holy War Against Family Planning for $2.99
