TC and BW v London Borough of Islington [2021] UKUT 196 (9 August 2021)
When conducting a remote hearing where one of the parties and their witness/quasi-representative were hearing impaired, the First-tier Tribunal had done enough for its hearing to be a fair one. The individuals concerned had indicated strategies by which they could manage and not subsequently indicated that, after all, they could not do so and there was nothing to put the First-tier Tribunal on notice that that might be the case. Dicta of Longstaff J in Rackham v NHS Professionals Ltd UKEAT/0010/15/LA, [2015] UKEAT 0110_15_1612 regarding the importance to personal autonomy of respecting the choices of people with disabilities applied. On the evidence the key points on which the appellant was dissatisfied had not gone wrong for her because of her hearing impairment but as the result of choices made during the proceedings.
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