Public service duties
What duties do public bodies and service providers have?
Our Human Rights Act contains 16 fundamental rights. These come from the European Convention on Human Rights, and our Human Rights Act puts them into UK law. Although some rights (known as non-absolute rights) can sometimes be limited or restricted, rights cannot be taken away.
Under our Human Rights Act, public bodies and service providers have a legal duty to respect, protect and fulfil human rights across their actions, decisions, policies and services.
Our work with public services Find out about our Open Course: Human Rights in Mental Health Inpatient Care Human rights training for public bodies
What does ‘public authority’ mean?
The definition of “public authority” under the Human Rights Act (HRA) includes:
- core public bodies i.e. organisations formally established and publicly funded to deliver a state service, like the NHS or police forces; and
- “any person certain of whose functions are functions of a public nature”. This is what’s known as a “hybrid public body” and can include organisations such as private companies and charities contracted by the State.
This means a body doesn’t need to be a traditional public body to have legal duties under the HRA. The emphasis is on the nature of the service being delivered (is it “generally expected to be performed directly or indirectly by the State”?) and not the nature of the body delivering it.
What duties do public bodies and service providers have?
Section 6 of the HRA says “it is unlawful for a public authority [also known as a “public body”] to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right”. This means one of the 16 rights from the European Convention on Human Rights which is put into UK law by our Human Rights Act.
The duty to act in a way that supports human rights has three parts: respect, protect, and fulfil.
These duties apply to all the rights in the HRA. The public authorities that we work with tell us that they do not see these duties as a burden, but rather as an important tool to help them make rights-respecting decisions.
To respect your right:
The duty to respect people’s human rights means that public authorities must not restrict them or try to breach them. This is known as a negative duty. It means that staff should avoid interfering with someone’s rights unless it is absolutely necessary to protect that person or others from harm.
This duty can be relevant in settings where blanket restrictions on people’s access to their belongings are in place, where this may not be necessary or proportionate for everyone.
To protect your right:
The duty to protect people’s human rights means that by law, public authorities must step in and take positive action to protect people from harm. This is known as a positive obligation. It could involve protecting a person from harm by another, non-official person, for example a family member or carer.
This duty is usually called safeguarding. It could occur in domestic abuse cases, where the police are aware of what is happening but fail to step in and prevent any further harm from occurring.
To fulfil your right:
The duty to fulfil people’s human rights means investigating when things have gone wrong and putting measures in place to stop it from happening again. This is also known as a procedural duty. It means that public authorities should take steps to strengthen access to and the realisation of human rights.
This duty was used by the Hillsborough families to get justice through an inquest involving the right to life (Article 2).
DSD and NBV's story
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the police owed human rights damages to two victims of John Worboys - the black cab driver responsible for a large number of sexual offences. DSD and NBV (they asked to remain anonymous) reported to the police that they had been sexually assaulted in 2003 and 2007.
Due to what the court said were significant errors, officers failed to charge the London black-cab driver at that stage. Worboys went on the assault as many as 100 more women.
Our Supreme Court (the top court in the UK) found the police, as a public body, accountable under the HRA. This means that even when crimes are committed by a private citizen, the state can still be held to account. In this case, the police for failing to undertake a proper investigation which left the woman exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment.
Read about this case in our human rights advocacy tool for women survivors of domestic abuse
Watch a 60 second video about the positive duty to protect human rights...
The Human Rights Act and other laws
Section 3 of the HRA means that governments, public bodies, and service providers must apply other laws and policies in a way that upholds our rights so far as possible. When this doesn't happen, individuals can seek justice in the courts. Whilst courts can never overrule an Act of Parliament, where possible they can apply other laws compatibly with human rights. This is a key form of accountability that makes us all stronger in a healthy democracy.
Public bodies and service providers should, as far as possible, see the HRA as the foundation of how they make decisions using other laws. This includes laws about a range of issues such as discrimination, protest, mental health, welfare, and migration.
The HRA should also be the foundation of how public bodies and service providers write and apply regulations, guidance such as codes of practice, and their own internal policies and decision-making processes.
What happens if governments, public bodies, and service providers don’t meet their duties?
If a government, public body, or service provider has breached someone’s human rights, the HRA means that person can bring a legal case in a UK court or tribunal. If the court finds that human rights have been breached, the person(s) whose rights have been violated are entitled to an effective remedy – this means a way of putting things right. The remedies will depend on the situation, and can include the public authority paying damages to the person, or being ordered to do something.
If someone is worried that a public body or service provider may not be considering human rights, there are steps they could take to raise a human rights issue to try and resolve the situation without needing to get a lawyer or go to court.
BIHR example
Josh's Story
Josh was an inpatient in a children’s mental health hospital. One day, Josh was told he must hand over his notebook because they had made a new ward policy after incident on another ward. Josh was distraught; his notebook was where he wrote down how he felt, to manage his feelings, and where he liked to draw, which contributed hugely to his health and wellbeing.
Josh’s mum had been involved in a BIHR training course and asked ward staff whether there was a legitimate aim for taking away Josh’s journal. Staff explained it was a new ward policy. But Josh’s mum told staff this was not a proportionate response. The following day, Josh’s journal was returned and a less restrictive process was put in place that included reviewing individual circumstances.
BIHR example
David's Story
David, a member of staff in a care home in England arranged an afternoon for canvassers to visit the care home and talk to people living there. After attending a BIHR training session on the right to vote and the right to non-discrimination, David realised that although the care home did put measures in place to support people to vote (for example applying for postal ballots or supporting people to go to the polling booth) there was more that could be done. He noticed that canvassers, never actually visited to talk to people in the care home, they went door to door on the street, missing out the care home. This meant that people living there weren’t having the same opportunities to engage in free elections as they would have if they were living in their own homes.
David arranged an afternoon and invited canvassers from various parties to come to the care home, deliver information and talk to people who wanted to be involved in these conversations.
The 16 Rights
What Rights Do I Have?
Our Human Rights Act takes 16 of the fundamental human rights written into the European Convention on Human Rights and puts them into UK law. This means they can be enforced in UK courts rather than having to go the European Court on Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Related information
Where do my rights apply?
Read about some of the areas where human rights are particularly relevant including in health, care and social work; migration and refugee rights; ending violence against women and girls; and LGBTQ+ rights.
Where do my rights apply?
Read about some of the areas where human rights are particularly relevant including in health, care and social work; migration and refugee rights; ending violence against women and girls; and LGBTQ+ rights.
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