Discrimination

Student absent from vocational course owing to pregnancy-related illness withdrawn from course by university - student seeking judicial review and bringing county court action for sex discrimination - judge on judicial review not to rule on discrimination claim R v South Bank University, Ex p.

Coggeran: CA (Schiemann, Thorpe and Mummery LJJ): 18 August 2000

The applicant completed two years of a degree course in radiography.

During her third year, because of absence through ill health then pregnancy-related illness, she attended no clinical placements and completed a small part of her written work.

She requested an extension of time due to mitigating circumstances but the examination board withdrew her from the course.

Having appealed unsuccessfully to the university's appeal panel she sought judicial review of the decisions of the board and the panel and brought a county court action alleging sex discrimination on the same facts.

While the county court proceedings were pending the judge granted the judicial review application and remitted the matter to the examination board for reconsideration.

The university appealed.

John Lofthouse (instructed by Eversheds) for the university.

David Bean QC and Jonathan Gavaghan (instructed by Michael Segen & Co) for the applicant.

Held, dismissing the appeal but varying the order, that the proper forum for a student to bring a sex discrimination claim against a university under pt III of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 was the county court, where the judge would rule on the law in the context of his findings of fact; that where an application for judicial review was brought on the same facts the judge should not rule on the applicability of sex discrimination cases relating to employment; that the considerations which applied where indefinite employment was temporarily interrupted by pregnancy did not necessarily apply to a structured course of vocational training over a definite period; but that, on the facts, the judge had been right to direct the board to reconsider the applicant's mitigating circumstances.