× Search rightsnet
Search options

Where

Benefit

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

From

to

Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Covid-19 issues  →  Thread

Should vaccinations be compulsory? Historical approach in SS

Sally Robertson
forum member

Barrister - Cloisters Chambers, London

Send message

Total Posts: 6

Joined: 17 June 2010

I am looking at factors relevant to the issue of whether:
a private sector employer can require its workers / users to be vaccinated as a condition of employment/use of premises or services.

Way back, reg 12(1)(c) of the SS (Unemployment, Sickness & Invalidity Benefit) Regs 1975 SI No 564 provided that a 6 week disqualification from benefit for failure without good cause to attend for or submit oneself to medical or other treatment did not apply ‘to any failure to attend for or to submit to vaccination or inoculation of any kind’.

An equivalent provision was still around in 2015.  I haven’t explored earlier than the 1975 Regs,  nor later than the 2015 DMG

Does anyone recall any research or parliamentary debates on the issue?  Thanks

Elliot Kent
forum member

Shelter

Send message

Total Posts: 3117

Joined: 14 July 2014

This is an interesting question. It is much more difficult to research these things without having access to Lexis etc. anymore. Doing the best I can from free sources.

The National Insurance Act 1946 is the earliest reference I can find to the concept that you could be excluded from (at that time) Sickness Benefit on the basis of the refusal of medical treatment. The primary legislation made no specific reference to vaccination but authorised regulations disqualifying claimants who refused to submit to medical treatment. This formulation has then been essentially maintained through to ESA under the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (s18).

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1946-02-19/debates/042695c5-408a-4b34-aefa-427a54abf0f8/NationalInsurance(IndustrialInjuries)Bill
(See Col 970)

The formulation in secondary legislation which excludes vaccines appears to be of a similar vintage. Reg 10(c) of the Unemployment and Sickness Benefit Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1948 (I couldn’t find the E&W version) has the same formulation and it is still there in substance in reg 93 ESA Regs 2013.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisro/1948/248/pdfs/nisro_19480248_en.pdf

I couldn’t find any evidence that the exclusion of vaccines for this purpose was ever discussed in Parliament. The closest I could find is a contribution of Billy Blyton MP making what I suppose is the obvious objection to the principle:

“This Bill states one of the disqualifications to be if a person fails, without good cause, to submit to such medical or other examination or treatment as may be required in accordance with the regulations. I hope that this does not include the question of an operation or an amputation. It may be the doctor may say that an operation will rehabilitate a man. If the man refuses because of the fear of the knife, I claim that we are not entitled to disqualify him because he objects to operation or amputation. A person’s body is inviolable; a man should determine the question of amputation or operation, without any disqualification in relation to his benefit.”

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1946-02-11/debates/0be2a39e-0132-4f5a-952f-3cf92bee584f/NationalInsuranceBill

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

For what it’s worth, the Business Secretary has said that -

While requiring a vaccination may nevertheless be legally possible in some circumstances, refusing services or employment to anyone who is not vaccinated does raise discrimination and other legal issues.’

More: https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/employment/news/item/business-secretary-acknowledges-that-refusing-services-or-employment-to-anyone-who-is-not-vaccinated-raises-discrimination-and-other-legal-issues

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

Meanwhile -

Care home workers will be required by law to have a Covid-19 jab under a historic legal change agreed by Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock, The Telegraph can reveal.

Leaked details of a paper submitted to the Covid-19 Operations Cabinet sub-committee last week show that the Prime Minister and Health Secretary have requested the change in law.

More: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/03/22/care-home-staff-face-compulsory-covid-vaccination/

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

Va1der
forum member

Welfare Rights Officer with SWAMP Glasgow

Send message

Total Posts: 706

Joined: 7 May 2019

You might be able to make it legally enforceable in a care home - because there could otherwise be a danger to the residents.
However, with most/all the residents being vaccinated already, that argument likely fails.

Not to mention the amount of virus a (vaccinated) person can carry on their person.

If the government wanted to make meaningful change they would legislate to foster better working conditions for care home staff, reasonably to include a higher standard and time allowance for cleanliness etc.

Mike Hughes
forum member

Senior welfare rights officer - Salford City Council Welfare Rights Service

Send message

Total Posts: 3138

Joined: 17 June 2010

Is it 80% or 85% of UK care homes who are now owned by what is essentially private equity firms? There is zero incentive to good practice; zero learning and zero possibility of legislation which wouldn’t be lobbied into meaninglessness. The horse has well and truly bolted through this particular stable door.

Stuart
Administrator

rightsnet editor

Send message

Total Posts: 890

Joined: 21 March 2016

Compulsory vaccinations appear to have moved a step closer for some workers ...

In a report to the government seen by the Guardian, the Equality and Human Rights Commission admitted that making vaccines compulsory for care home staff would be a “significant departure from current public health policy”.

But they judged that ministers were “right to prioritise protection of the right to life for residents and staff” and said it would be reasonable for care home workers to need a jab “in order to work directly with older and disabled people, subject to some important safeguards”.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/02/uk-rights-watchdog-endorses-compulsory-covid-jabs-for-care-home-staff

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

Covid vaccinations are to become mandatory for care home staff under plans to be announced by ministers, as they consider extending the move to all NHS staff.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/15/covid-jabs-to-become-mandatory-for-care-home-staff-in-england

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

It’s official ...

... new legislation [will] mean from October – subject to Parliamentary approval and a subsequent 16-week grace period – anyone working in a CQC-registered care home in England for residents requiring nursing or personal care must have 2 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine unless they have a medical exemption ...

Regulations will be laid before Parliament as secondary legislation at the earliest opportunity. If approved by Parliament, there will be a 16-week grace period from when the regulations are made to when they come into force to enable staff who haven’t been vaccinated to take up the vaccine.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/everyone-working-in-care-homes-to-be-fully-vaccinated-under-new-law-to-protect-residents

Ros
Administrator

editor, rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 1323

Joined: 6 June 2010

Abigail Holt from Garden Court Chambers has written this useful advice -

COVID-19 VACCINES: Guidance for employees whose employers are requiring them to be vaccinated

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

Covid vaccination is to be made compulsory for the NHS’s 1.45 million staff in England, despite criticism that forcing frontline personnel to get jabbed is heavy-handed and will lead some to quit.

However, the tough new approach will not come into force until April, after Sajid Javid heeded warnings that introducing it soon could lead to an exodus of staff during the winter, the health service’s busiest time of year.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/03/covid-jabs-to-be-compulsory-for-nhs-staff-in-england-from-april

Stuart
Administrator

rightsnet editor

Send message

Total Posts: 890

Joined: 21 March 2016

The High Court has ruled that the double-vaccination rule for care home workers is lawful, Landmark Chambers (who acted for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) has reported -

In R (Peters and Findlay) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the High Court has this week rejected a claim brought by three claimants, including care home workers, that regulation 5 was unlawful on the grounds that: (1) it was ultra vires the enabling provision in s.20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008; (2) the Secretary of State failed to take into account relevant considerations; (3) it breached their Article 8 ECHR rights to bodily integrity; (4) it amounted to unlawful discrimination, contrary to Articles 8 and 14 ECHR because it disproportionately impacted women and those from ethnic minorities; and, (5) it was irrational.

More: https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/double-vaccination-rule-for-care-home-workers-found-lawful-by-high-court

Update:  26 November 2021 - the High Court refused an application for permission to appeal in this case and in a second case brought on the same issue in Peters & Anor, R. (On the Application of) v The Secretary Of State For Health And Social Care & Anor [2021] EWHC 3182

[ Edited: 26 Nov 2021 at 03:00 pm by Stuart ]
shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

shawn mach
Administrator

rightsnet.org.uk

Send message

Total Posts: 3773

Joined: 14 April 2010

Ryan Bradshaw
forum member

Leigh Day, Manchester

Send message

Total Posts: 110

Joined: 17 June 2010