Reference to the European Court of Justice under Article 177 of the European Community (EC) Treaty (now Article 234 EC) by the High Court for a preliminary ruling. Interpretation of Articles 3 and 7(1)(a) of Council Directive 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security (OJ 1979 L 6, p. 24); unlawful sex discrimination.
After the ECJ decision, the UK government announced that it would make full Winter Fuel Payments to men aged over 60, including back payments to those who were over 60 when the 1998 regulations first came into effect (see Department of Social Services Press Release 99/321 of 16th Dec 1999). Opposition parties claimed the government was not alerting pensioners to their entitlements but the Government responded it had run a concerted information campaign (Source: The Independent, 2 January 2002).
The case demonstrates how discrimination norms can be litigated in the social and economic sphere. It also shows how the European Court of Justice can be utilized to advance human rights as that body’s directives increasingly address human rights concerns.
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