# 4 Human rights

The HRA 1998 provided that courts in the UK must take into account in their decision-making any relevant decisions of the ECHR (this is unaffected by the Brexit vote and the decision of the UK government to leave the European Union). Any legislation must be interpreted in a way that is compatible with the rights contained in the ECHR: if the UK court cannot do this it may issue a ‘declaration of incompatibility’. The HRA 1998 also provided that it is unlawful for a public authority (which includes local authorities, health authorities and the police) to act in a way that is incompatible with the rights set out in the ECHR.

The HRA 1998 gives effect to the rights contained in the ECHR by:

- making it unlawful for any public authority to act, or fail to act, in any way that is incompatible with the rights contained in the ECHR; the term ‘public authority’ includes courts, tribunals, the police, immigration authorities, and local and central government
- requiring courts to interpret existing and future legislation in a way that is compatible with the rights contained in the ECHR
- requiring courts to take cases decided under the ECHR into account when deciding a question that has arisen in connection with the ECHR
- giving the higher courts (e.g. the Supreme Court, the High Court of Justiciary and the Court of Session) the power to make a ‘declaration of incompatibility’ and to award a remedy where they decide that a statute is incompatible with the ECHR
- requiring legislatures (such as the UK Parliament and the devolved legislatures) to scrutinise proposed legislation to ensure that it complies with the HRA 1998 and the ECHR.

With the enactment of the HRA 1998, most rights set out in the ECHR (e.g. the right to family life) are now part of UK law. This is important for social care professionals and local authorities, since it means they have to ensure that, in all aspects of their practice, decision-making and policy-making, they are acting in a way that is compatible with a service user’s human rights. This is why knowing about human rights and the provisions of the ECHR is important for social care professionals.

The next section considers the impact of the ECHR and the HRA 1998 on the provision of services.

OpenLearn - Introducing social care and social work
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