Background
Twyford Church of England High School reserved 150 of its 190 places as foundation places. When those places were oversubscribed, applicants could receive up to 20 points for regular Christian worship by the child and parent or carer, plus one additional point if the family’s main place of worship was a Church of England church or a church in communion with it. In most recent years, applicants needed 21 points to secure a foundation place.
CKT, who is from Eritrea, and her son DGT regularly attended an Eritrean Orthodox church. DGT received 20 points but was ineligible for the additional Anglican point and was refused admission. After an admissions appeal and an objection to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator were unsuccessful, CKT and DGT sought judicial review, alleging indirect race discrimination and breach of the public sector equality duty. The High Court dismissed their claims, finding that the criterion disadvantaged non-white and non-English applicants but was justified as a proportionate means of preserving the school’s Anglican character.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed both appeals. It held that paragraph 5 of Schedule 11 to the Equality Act 2010, which permits certain religion-or-belief distinctions by designated faith schools, did not prevent the appellants from bringing an indirect race-discrimination claim. The High Court was also entitled to find that the additional-point criterion placed the appellants and people sharing their race or ethnic origin at a particular disadvantage.
Nevertheless, the High Court was entitled to conclude that the criterion was a proportionate means of achieving the legitimate aim of preserving Twyford School’s Anglican character and ethos. The statutory framework permitting faith schools and faith-based oversubscription criteria reflected a substantial public interest in preserving such schools. The Court of Appeal further upheld the finding that the Trust had complied with section 149 of the Equality Act by giving due regard to the criterion’s religious and racial equality effects, including through its decision to operate the other Trust schools without faith-based oversubscription criteria.
Key Takeaways
- The statutory exception for religion-or-belief discrimination by designated faith schools does not bar a claim that a faith-based admissions criterion causes indirect race discrimination.
- An admissions criterion may create a particular racial disadvantage yet remain lawful if the school proves that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
- Compliance with the public sector equality duty is substantive and fact-sensitive; it does not invariably require a particular document, formula, or elaborate decision-making process.
Why It Matters
The judgment confirms that faith-school admissions policies remain subject to scrutiny for indirect discrimination based on race, even when legislation permits selection by religion. The religious-school exception does not give designated schools blanket immunity from claims involving other protected characteristics.
At the same time, the decision recognizes that preserving a school’s denominational character can justify a criterion with disparate racial effects where the evidence supports the criterion’s connection to that aim and the decision-maker has properly considered equality impacts and alternatives.