Leave granted to amend statement of grounds in ‘slopping out’ proceedings

High Court, in Judicial Review proceedings concerning the rejection of the Applicant’s claim under a non-statutory compensatory scheme for prisoners subjected to a practice of “slopping out”, i.e. having no in-cell sanitation which claim, grants an application for leave to amend a Statement of Grounds, on the grounds that: where the Scheme was established as a remedy for breach of rights arising from the practice of slopping out, and it is established by the Applicant that there was no effective remedy contemporaneous with those breaches such that the inclusion of a retrospective limitation period and its application to the Applicant to exclude his claim renders the Scheme ineffective
as a remedy, it is arguable (recalling again the low threshold which applies on an application for leave to amend) that the exclusion of the Applicant under the Scheme, coupled with the unavailability of any other remedy, if this is established, is in breach of his right to an effective remedy; and the balance of justice therefore favours an amendment as sought.