In support of disabled people’s right to escape their flat in a fire, and in the fight for justice for those who died in Grenfell Tower, please help us hold the Government to account so that it takes fire safety seriously for everyone.In 2017, 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire. A significant proportion were disabled people, along with their relatives who refused to leave them. No disabled or vulnerable person living there had an evacuation plan.The Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommended that all disabled people living in high-rise buildings should have the right to a personal emergency evacuation plan (“an evacuation plan”). The Prime Minister promised to implement all of the Inquiry’s recommendations in full.Five years on and the Home Office has announced that it will not give disabled people the right to evacuation plans - on the basis of “practicality, cost and proportionality.” We believe the Government must be held to account for failing to make the fundamental changes it promised in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. We have therefore instructed our legal team to issue proceedings to seek permission for a Judicial Review.Our lawyers are acting on a ‘no win no fee’ basis and, although we hope our legal challenge will be successful, the Home Office could seek their legal costs against us if we lose. We cannot afford these as what’s left of our savings has been set aside for the £000s we must pay for remediation of our flats.We have secured some funding but need to raise at least £7500 from crowdfunding to pay for court fees and to protect us from having to pay the Home Office’s legal costs if our challenge fails. Our legal team is applying to the Court for a ‘costs capping order’ to try and ensure that these costs don’t exceed any money that we can raise. If we are unable to raise sufficient funds to meet a costs capping order, it is likely we will be forced to discontinue the claim.If we win the case and no costs are imposed against us in the next six months, your donation will be fully refunded via the GoFundMe platform. If we lose and costs are imposed against us, or the case does not resolve within six months, the funds will be administered by Sarah Rennie and our solicitors as appropriate.In support of disabled people’s right to escape their flat in a fire, and in the fight for justice for those who died in Grenfell Tower, please help us hold the Government to account so that it takes fire safety seriously for everyone.
UpdatesOctober 22, 2022by Sarah Rennie and Georgie Hulme, OrganizerFundraising successful and court date set!
Three months ago we launched a crowdfund appeal to help us raise funds to protect ourselves against adverse costs should our legal challenge against the Government over its failure to implement key Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations be unsuccessful. Last month, the court approved our application to proceed with the challenge but set the limit for an adverse costs order at a higher level than we had hoped.
However, we are thrilled to say we have raised over £21,500 and can now proceed with the legal challenge without personal risk. Thank you!
We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of friends, family, neighbours, campaigners, allies and complete strangers. Each donation, no matter the size, has been gratefully received. We also deeply value the in-kind support such as awareness-raising and campaigning which led to us reaching our target.
Particular gratitude must go to Law for Change without whom we would never have reached our target. They kicked off our crowdfund initiative with a generous donation of £10,000 and have now pledged the remaining funds we need. We thank the Law for Change team for their support, solidarity and commitment to this public interest case.
The hearing is set for 6-7 December 2022 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. We plan to attend in person as much as we are physically able to and subject to the court’s willingness to make reasonable adjustments.
September 14, 2022 by Sarah Rennie and Georgie Hulme, Organizer Thank you so much for your donation to our fund. We want to share some good news with you!
Last week the High Court gave us permission to apply for judicial review. This means that the judge considered that we have an arguable case and she considered that it should be brought before the court swiftly. We hope that the hearing will take take place before the end of the year.
The judge also agreed to grant us a cost capping order as this is a public interest case. This means that if our case is not successful we will only have to pay the Home Office’s legal fees up to the sum of £20,000. We also need to pay for Court fees which we estimate will be up to £1,500.
This is still, of course, a lot of money we don’t have. Law for Change has kindly donated £10,000 and, through the crowdfund to which you have generously donated, we have so far raised £5,805. So we need to raise a further £5,695 if we are to be able to proceed.
We therefore wondered if you could kindly help spread the word to friends, family or colleagues who would want to support us with a small donation to help provide us with the safety net to pursue this case on behalf of the disabled, deaf and older community.
As a reminder, our legal team are working on the case ‘no win no fee’ and if we are successful all unused donations will be returned.
Thank you for your continued support, kindness and solidarity.
Georgie and Sarah
