The High Court has handed down its judgment in ACN v. The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 297 (Admin.), concerning whether the Secretary of State for the Home Department is required by the public sector equality duty (the “PSED”) to conduct “statistical monitoring” in relation to the accommodation of LGBT+ asylum seekers.
The Claimant was a bisexual asylum seeker who was informed by the Secretary of State that he would be provided with accommodation at Napier Barracks. The Claimant was never in fact transferred to Napier, but the claim was allowed to proceed notwithstanding its academic nature. By the time of the substantive hearing, the sole ground on which the claim was pursued was that the Secretary of State had breached the PSED (provided for by section 149 of the Equality Act 2010) by failing to undertake statistical monitoring in relation to the experiences of LGBT+ asylum seekers who were provided with accommodation in “large sites” (such as Napier Barracks), and in accommodation involving room sharing (for example in hotels). The Secretary of State’s case, in summary, was that such monitoring was not required and that, in any event, adequate statistical monitoring was conducted.
Mr. Justice Poole heard the case in November 2025 and handed down his decision on 13 February 2026. He dismissed the claim, concluding that in the context of the function which the Secretary of State was performing (allocating asylum accommodation), the PSED did not require the statistical monitoring of the allocation of accommodation to LGBT+ asylum seekers. In reaching this conclusion the Court noted, in particular, that it was difficult to identify what statistical information would make a difference to the Secretary of State’s policy on the allocation of accommodation, or its implementation.
David Manknell KC and Edward Waldegrave acted for the Secretary of State, instructed by the Government Legal Department.
