Unleashing the anticipatory reasonable adjustment duty: University of Bristol v Abrahart (EHRC intervening) [2024] EWHC 299 (KB)
| Published date | 01 June 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13582291241241505 |
| Author | Achas K Burin,Shreya Atrey |
| Date | 01 June 2024 |
Cases, Legislation and Policy Development
International Journal of
Discrimination and the Law
2024, Vol. 24(1-2) 7–18
© The Author(s) 2024
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/13582291241241505
journals.sagepub.com/home/jdi
Unleashing the anticipatory
reasonable adjustment duty:
University of Bristol v Abrahart
(EHRC intervening) [2024]
EWHC 299 (KB)
Achas K Burin
1,2
and Shreya Atrey
3
Abstract
On 14 February 2024, the High Court upheld the decision of the Bristol County Court in
University of Bristol v Dr Robert Abrahart. Ms Abrahart, a physics undergraduate, took her
own life in April 2018, the morning before she was meant to deliver an oral presentation.
The claim brought by Ms Abrahart’s father was that in failing to remove or adjust the
requirement for oral assessments, the University had discriminated against her on the
basis of her disability. The High Court upheld the discrimination claims under the Equality
Act 2010 while dismissing the claim in negligence on the basis that the University did not
owe Ms Abrahart a common law duty of care. This note discusses the contrasting moves
made by the High Court in, on the one hand, lowering the bar for finding a breach of the
anticipatory reasonable adjustment duty, and on the other hand, raising the bar for finding
an assessment method to be a ‘competence standard’set by universities. Although arising
in relation to the very specific facts of this case, the implications of the ruling in Abrahart
are far reaching.
Keywords
Disability, mental health, negligence, reasonable adjustments, anticipatory duty,
discrimination, higher education
1
Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK
2
Barrister, 12 King’s Bench Walk Chambers, London, UK
3
Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Corresponding author:
Achas K Burin, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK.
Email: aburin@brookes.ac.uk
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