Miss J South & Others v Raleigh Learning Trust — 2022

This was a record of an open preliminary hearing before Employment Judge Blackwell, sitting alone at Nottingham on 31 August 2022, dealing with applications to amend the claim forms. Miss South sought to add a new direct race discrimination claim, contending that the detriments at paragraphs 47 and 48 were less favourable treatment because of her mixed heritage race. Miss Stewart sought to add to her existing race discrimination case by alleging that the detriments at paragraph 41 were less favourable treatment because she is White compared with a hypothetical comparator.

The tribunal applied the Selkent principles and had regard to the guidance in Ladbrokes Racing Limited v Traynor. It accepted the claimants' submission that the factual basis in both cases remained the same and that no new witnesses or other players were needed for the amendments. The judge accepted that the applications were made late, with no explanation for why they had not been made earlier, but noted that the race issue already ran through the pleadings and that the respondent would suffer only limited additional cost in dealing with the new allegations.

The tribunal also found that there was no material risk that relevant evidence had been lost or reduced in quality. It took no view on the merits of the proposed amendments, saying they were fact dependent, but concluded that on balance it was right to permit both amendments. The judgment therefore allowed the amendments for both claimants and did not determine the substantive merits of any discrimination claim.