The Court of Appeal has allowed a claim for judicial review against the Home Secretary’s refusal to grant leave to remain in the UK to the daughter of a victim of the Windrush scandal. The Home Secretary had refused to consider granting leave because the applicant did not satisfy one of the criteria of the Windrush policy. In R (Hippolyte) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 1493, the Court of Appeal held that the Home Secretary had erred in fettering her discretion and refusing to consider whether to grant leave in light of the applicant’s individual circumstances. The discretion conferred on the Home Secretary by Parliament had to be capable of being exercised in a holistic way, bearing in mind that “In a case like the present there is a real human being who applies for the exercise of discretion” (para 64, per Singh LJ). The Court of Appeal also held that the judge below had misapplied section 31(2A) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 by straying into the “forbidden territory” of seeking to predict what decision the Home Secretary might reach if she exercised her discretion lawfully.
Chris Buttler KC represented Jeanell Hippolyte, leading Grace Brown, instructed by Freya Danby at Leigh Day.