UK Government publishes ‘Bill of Rights’ to replace Human Rights Act

The UK Government introduced its Bill of Rights to parliament on 22 June. You can read it here.

What does it mean?

If passed, the Bill will repeal and replace the current Human Rights Act (HRA).

The current Human Rights Act (HRA) protects those at greatest risk. However, the new Bill of Rights waters down some of these protections.

Some of the measures it seeks to introduce include:

  • A new permission stage requiring claimants to prove they have (or would) suffer significant disadvantage as a result of a breach of their rights before they can take their claim to court
  • A higher threshold for challenges to deportations for foreign national offenders based on the right to private and family life
  • Removing the duty on courts to interpret legislation compatibly with convention rights
  • Limiting the interpretation of rights to a literal reading of the text of convention rights

BASW has produced a summary here.

What is SASW doing?

The social work profession is built on upholding individual and collective human rights. It is clear that this Bill will roll back human rights rather than uphold them. 

Along with 124 other organisations in Scotland, we added our name to Just Right Scotland’s statement calling on the UK Government to withdraw this Bill and instead consider what can be done to better protect human rights across the UK. You can read the statement here.

We will continue to stand against this regressive Bill at every opportunity.

What can you do?

The UK Parliament’s Human Rights (Joint Committee) has launched a short survey on the Bill. 

The survey only takes a few minutes to complete and is a simple way to show your opposition to these proposals. You can access it here.

What happens next?

The legislation is at second reading, which means MPs will debate the general principles of the Bill. This is expected to happen when parliament returns from summer recess. If the Bill passes its second reading, then it will be scrutinised by the relevant committees.

If you would like to be kept updated, please contact jonny.adamson@basw.co.uk