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Charity in legal action over charging policy for vulnerable migrant women accessing NHS maternity care

A charity has launched a judicial review over the policy of charging vulnerable migrant women for NHS maternity care, saying it was deterring them from attending essential health care appointments.

Maternity Action said it was “challenging the practice of issuing bills of £7,000 or more to destitute pregnant women....We are arguing for the Government to undertake the long overdue review of the impact of charging on equalities groups and we are calling for a widening of the current exemptions. The challenge is broadly framed and has the potential to benefit a wide group of migrants, including those in receipt of local authority support.”

The charity will argue that the Government is in breach of the Public Sector Equality Duty “as there is evidence that charging disproportionately impacts on equality groups, including pregnant women”. 

It said that if it was successful, the courts would make a declaration that the Government was in breach of this duty and require the Government to undertake a full inquiry into the equalities implications of the charging regulations. 

“This review would provide a valuable opportunity to focus attention on the harsh impact of charging within Government and at Parliamentary level,” it claimed.

The charity said it had had “a very skilled and committed legal team” working on the challenge: Janet Farrell of Bhatt Murphy, Jason Coppel QC, Shu Shin Luh and Laura Profumo. It is also working with Southwark Law Centre on individual cases.

Its legal costs are covered but Maternity Action is crowdfunding via Crowd Justice to cover its cost risk, which is estimated at £10,000. “This is a lot of money for a small charity, and comes on top of the already considerable investment of resources to prepare for the challenge."