Mr D Clarke v The Governors of the Lakeview School — 2021

Mr Clarke applied unsuccessfully to become a school governor at The Governors of the Lakeview School and, after early conciliation, brought a race discrimination claim. The respondent applied to strike out the claim, first on the basis that the role was voluntary and outside the Equality Act 2010, and alternatively on the basis that the claim had no reasonable prospect of success or warranted a deposit order.

On jurisdiction, the tribunal accepted that volunteers are not automatically outside the Equality Act, and noted that a volunteer may be protected if there is a legally binding contract to provide work personally. Because the tribunal had no evidence about the legal arrangements for the governor role, it could not determine whether a successful applicant would have entered into a relationship amounting to 'employment' for the purposes of s.83(2)(a) Equality Act 2010. The strike out application on that basis was therefore refused, with the point left to be dealt with at the final hearing.

On the merits-based applications, the tribunal applied the usual high threshold for strike out and the lower threshold for a deposit order, referring to Anyanwu, Ezsias, Morgan v Royal Mencap Society and Hemdan v Ishmail. Taking Mr Clarke's case at its highest, and in light of the disputes about why he was not appointed and whether the respondent knew his ethnicity, the tribunal held that it could not say the claim had no reasonable prospect of success, or even little reasonable prospect of success. The applications for strike out and for a deposit order were both refused.

The tribunal also varied case management directions, extending the listed hearing to three days and amending the timetable for disclosure, bundle preparation, witness statements and document upload. No financial remedy was awarded in this judgment.