Human Rights in Action: Case studies from regulators, inspectorates and ombudsmen
Public authorities, including Regulators, Inspectorates and Ombudsmen (RIOs), have an obligation to comply with the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), and case law has clarified that they also have positive obligations to promote and protect human rights when carrying out public functions.
If a public authority (or any organisation exercising a public function) fails to comply with the HRA, a person who is affected by that failure may be able to take action on this basis in the UK courts. Therefore, people working for RIOs need to understand human rights and take them into account in their day-to-day work.
People who lead RIOs, particularly those responsible for setting organisational practices and policies, can use this guide to see how applying human rights legislation has the potential to transform the way services are planned and delivered.
This guide presents real case studies provided by RIOs who have been working to promote compliance with human rights obligations in a variety of different ways. The fact that more case studies have been provided than can be included in this guide is an illustration of the wide ranging use some RIOs are already making of human rights legislation to guide their practice and improve their performance.
While the guide is aimed at those RIOs working in England and Wales, some case studies have been drawn from Northern Ireland and Scotland where the experience of RIOs contains relevant lessons.
It should be noted that this guide does not constitute (and should not be used as a substitute for) legal advice.
RIOs may also wish to refer to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guide on human rights obligations for public authorities Human Rights, Human Lives.
Putting human rights into practice - case studies from RIOs
Human Rights in Action: further reading
**Download the full guide to read offline (available in PDF and MS Word)**
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all the RIOs who offered case studies, and to Sarah Cooke OBE who developed the content of this guide.
This guide revises and updates The Human Rights Framework as a Tool for Regulators and Inspectorates which was published by the Ministry of Justice in 2009
Last Updated: 15 Apr 2015