Charlotte O'Brien

@cobrien

Professor of Law, University of York (she/her). Social security; EU law; discrimination; migration; social justice.

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Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· 1d

Judicial review, or judicial blessing ceremony? When @lewisgrahamlaw.bsky.social suggested co-authoring a case note on Jwanczuk, in which the UKSC underlines its distaste for human rights based challenges to primary social security legislation, I figuratively bit his hand off.

Screen shot of a couple of quotes from Graham and O'Brien's piece, which read: The separation of powers doctrine was never meant to divide organs of the state along socio-economic lines... Judicial review for primary social security legislation is transmogrifying into a judicial blessing ceremony.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· 1d

What... what am I reading? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Screen shot of some text from a Guardian report on the Clacton by election which reads: 'After a 25-minute or so drive from the count, at an airbase far away from the heart of Clacton-on-Sea, a lone guard sat in complete darkness beside a sign that read Farage Fest.

After getting through this initial security checkpoint and parking up, there was a trudge through a dark country lane. Soon, the festival came into full view, with a lit-up ferris wheel, tents and Farage himself at about 3.30am, visible through a gated fence.'

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jul 16

BUP publish a select range of general non-fiction; this project relied on the incredible support of FIVE anonymous peer reviewers (some quotes on first post, some below). Watch this space – and to those supportive of the ideas and the mission, please *let’s help change the brutalising discourse*!

Quotes from peer reviews of the proposal: I think it is very powerful the way Charlotte has weaved a thread between the different ways xenophobia has been used that build on each other to create a cumulative effect of division and discrimination across society. She has such a wealth of experience

Charlotte has an excellent reputation across academia and policy, as well as years of experience in advice-led research and public engagement. She writes clearly and accessibly and will be a fabulous advocate for the book.

Charlotte O’Brien has produced excellent academic work on these issues and is entirely qualified to write this book

a distinctive intellectual contribution/framework and a strong public-facing rationale.

an imaginative, interesting and important proposal that would provide some real intellectual heft in an otherwise rather underpowered field of thinking and campaigning.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jul 16

WAAAH! I can't believe I'm typing this - but I have a book contract for a non-fiction book for a general audience with @brisunipress.bsky.social to challenge damaging rhetoric about immigration and welfare, arguing that xenophobic law-making goes hand-in-hand with punishing the poor and hurts us all

Quotes from peer reviewers for the book proposal: This is well put together and definitely leaves me wanting to read the full book which I think will be both gripping and challenging.

The writing style is perfect, clear for a general audience, but also engaging to practitioners

a project of deep social and political significance.

This is a very strong proposal – intellectually ambitious, empirically grounded, provocative, timely. It is also very well written

There really isn’t anything quite like this. It is groundbreaking.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jun 10

This is less a problem with the programme than it is a problem with the yawning gap in the debates. Women's rights were (and are) jeopardised by Brexit. (I wrote about this way back when: www.referendumanalysis.uk/eu-referendu...).

Article entitled 'Bonfires and Brexterity: what's next for women?' with the first few paras of text: We could have quite a serious fight coming up. Whatever comes next, women’s voices should not be so resoundingly drowned out as they were in the Referendum campaign. Women’s rights need to be articulated starkly, bluntly, and loudly, since they were inaudible in the male echo chamber of pre-referendum debates.

According to Lord Ashcroft’s Referendum poll, based on 12 369 people, the leave/remain split between female voters was exactly the same as that for male voters – 52/48. That figure, like the preceding debates, does not reflect the gendered nature of Brexit.

Brexit raises the prospect of a ‘bonfire of rights’. A number of those in the Leave camp have made their distaste for gender equality provisions abundantly clear… (Leave’s) Boris Johnson announced that he would scrap the entire social chapter of the EU.
In terms of what comes next, Brexit is a feminist issue. During the debates, concerns over workplace rights were too often dismissed with a reference to the UK’s legislative track record, suggesting that we were doing very nicely without Europe, thank you. But this argument is rather shallow and misleading. In law, detail is paramount. Yes, the UK stumped up its own Equal Pay Act. But it did not cover things like pension rights – it was up to the European Court of Justice to find that part time workers, more likely to be women, should be entitled to join occupational pension schemes. And it was the ECJ that found that women were entitled to equal pay for work of equal value when no job evaluation study had been done. Yes, the UK created its own Sex Discrimination Act, but it was the ECJ that found that no sick-man comparator was required, contrary to UK law. And it was the ECJ that found that women should not be deprived of their annual leave while on maternity leave... (truncated due to alt text limit)

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jun 4

Redoleent of the UKSC’s recent Jwanczuk judgment, where it found that it was fine that Parliament thought it *better to refuse* bereavement support payment to the bereaved spouse of someone who had been too disabled to work before they died, than let them apply for it ‘at such a sensitive time’.

Excerpt of the UKSC Jwanczuk judgment: It seems to us that it was not unreasonable
in these circumstances for Parliament to conclude that it was better to have a certain,
simple and consistent rule for all, which was quick to administer, and required almost no
information to be provided by the bereaved, than to have an exception which would
require the bereaved to provide detailed evidence of their deceased partner’s capacity to
work at such a sensitive time, only for the chance of a benefit to which they may not be
entitled.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· May 19

Tomorrow I am facing possibly the most terrifying, hardest moment of my career: talking about university and the law to a large group of 5-7 year olds. Pray for me. Am I planning on getting them to throw things? Why yes, yes I am.

A bunch of mortar boards, a scroll and some ribbons. Pic kindly supplied by the friendly e-bayer who sold them to me.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Apr 24

"Write with fire, edit with ice (and come up for air)": Bob Ross! Dr Who! Descartes! Women in Public Spaces! The twin evils of genAI and headlice. And the quiet, transcendent magic of writing, all Open Access: nilq.qub.ac.uk/index.php/ni...

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Apr 23

Is ‘legal science’ a thing - and can or should it be? Free webinar: Monday, 27th April, 17.00. Thanks to the University of Coimbra I’ll be talking about the importance of action research as a means of ‘experimenting with the law’. Deets & registration here: www.uc.pt/en/fduc/ucil...

Image from the University of Coimbra website showing the title pf Charlotte’s talk: “Experiments in the law: advice-led ethnography, test cases, and citizen empowerment.” Plus the date and time (27 April, 5-6pm).

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Feb 19

Lady Hale appreciation post! Some UKSC judges might just retire to a life of lucrative commercial arbitration - but not her. She's committed to public service - educating students and the public about the law and human rights. Was terrifying but amazing to interview this ICON at York Law School.

Lady Hale answering a question, seated in an armchair at the front of a large, filled lecture theatre at York Law School (audience out of sight apart from the tops of a few heads), with an excitable Charlotte O'Brien trying keep herself composed - a telltale hand gripping her chair a bit too tightly.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jan 30

Guess what the evidence shows? Disabled people pushed into deeper poverty are pushed *further from, not into, the workplace*. NEW REPORT, PACKED WITH EVIDENCE from community organisations. www.citizensadviceyork.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Cover page of: Aligning Policy and Reality: how to achieve the aims of sickness and disability benefits reform, with logos of Citizens Advice York, York Carers Centre, York Disability Rights Forum, York Foodbank, Healthwatch York
York Human Rights City Network, Older Citizens Advocacy York, and the University of York

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jan 5

See here: *Side-stepping international law on the sly: The secret severing of the EU Settlement Scheme from the Withdrawal Agreement* plus.lexis.com/api/permalin... Please contact us if you do not have access to the journal and would like to read it!

A screen shot of the first section of the accepted pre-print version of the article. Reads: Side-stepping international law on the sly: The secret severing of the EU Settlement Scheme from the Withdrawal Agreement

Charlotte O’Brien and Alice Welsh

INTRODUCTION
The creation of the EU Settlement Scheme was a massive, unprecedented operation, to register millions of EU nationals and family members living in the UK, in a short space of time.
The scheme implemented the UK’s obligations under the Withdrawal Agreements to protect rights after Brexit. However, in order to avoid making welfare payments to a small cohort of

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jan 5

@awelsh.bsky.social and I have a new article out in the Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law, official journal of the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association, exploring how (& asking why?) the UK government persists in undermining EU citizens’ long term Withdrawal Agreement rights.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jan 5

This is a bizarre tale in which an overreaction to one, apparently unintended, minor, consequence has blown away any supposed security and certainty of the new regime. And results in 'maximum cake' - a scheme that is constitutive when it suits the UK government, and declaratory when it doesn't.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Jan 5

New Year Pop Quiz: Which of the 6 million + people with EU Settlement Scheme status has documentary confirmation that they are residing on the basis of the Withdrawal Agreement? Astonishingly, the UK government's position appears to be: none of them. But wasn’t that the whole point of the EUSS?

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Nov 29

The Grand Place in Brussels looking pretty grand - and for the first time I got to see a massive Xmas tree in the process of being decorated (with two mini cranes!). Also did a talk the next day to lawyers, academics and people from the EU Commission, about the exploitation of posted workers btw.

Grand Place in Brussels, lit up with green and purple lights

Massive xmas tree in process of being decorated, bottom half covered in lights. One person on ground is adding huge red baubles. Two people on mini cranes are adding lights higher up.

Grand Place lit up with white and purple lights

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Sep 10

Another gap I commented on is the absence of backdating. Here, SCoSS have quoted my *evidence, drawn from advice-based research*, on periods when the risks of frictional poverty are higher - the immediate aftermath of childbirth being one.

Screenshot of text from report, quoting O'Brien:
Stakeholders noted that there may be reasons why applications might be slightly delayed. Certain groups, such as single parent families, may be more likely to be affected.
“Dealing with the fallout of various traumas – more likely around the time of childbirth – is also likely to impair [individuals] ability to make timely claims. For vulnerable clients this means missing out on significant sums of money at crucial junctures. Child Benefit can be backdated for up to 3 months. The same approach to the Two Child Limit Payment would be humane, and allow for a small degree of flexibility at a difficult moment. It would also offer some recognition that a new benefit might not be widely known about."

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Sep 10

SCoSS has now published its report. I see the @cpaguk.bsky.social had a similar key concern to me - that the 'top-up' model means that only those already in receipt of Universal Credit will benefit - you need an existing UC award to attach it to

Screenshot of text from SCoSS report: CPAG estimates that 3,000 families in Scotland are not entitled to any Universal Credit, because of the two-child limit.5 These families cannot access the top-up payment, as individuals must first be entitled to Universal Credit for the Scottish Government to apply its powers.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Sep 10

Did you know that the Scottish Government has immediate plans to introduce a top-up benefit for families in Scotland affected by the UK's two child limit? Short 🧵 The Scottish Commission on Social Security scrutinised the draft regulations at pace this summer & I was invited to submit observations

Front page of Scottish Commission on Social Security Scrutiny report on draft Regulations:
The Two Child Limit Payment (Scotland) Regulations 2026

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· May 31

I CANNOT WAIT to talk with @drproudman.bsky.social about her essential new book, ‘He Said, She Said’ as part of @yorkfestofideas.bsky.social, this evening. Expect shocking stories & a massive rallying cry against gender injustice in the legal system. I’m chairing; I’ll try my hardest not to swear.

Cover of ‘He Said, She Said: Truth, Trauma and the Struggle for Justice in Family Court’ by Charlotte Proudman

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· May 20

Who *wouldn't* want full funding to do a PhD with any of our incredible academics at York Law School? Doing a PhD is so rewarding, and supervising is such a joy. Getting funding is a huge, and increasingly rare, opportunity. And York is LOVELY. www.york.ac.uk/law/study/fu...

Screenshot of the University of York's website: York City Guide. Pic of students on the City Walls, with York Minster in the background. Text includes excerpts from surveys claiming York to be the 6th most welcoming place on Earth, 2nd safest city in the UK, and 2nd friendliest place to live in the UK.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· May 15

The House of Lords European Affairs Committee has published our evidence outlining why a COMPLETE ABSENCE of documentary evidence of rights for EUSS holders in the UK – is a giant problem; *read it here*: committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· May 15

Third, the very real and present risk of this/future governments stripping away rights from those with SETTLED STATUS, unless they prove it is based on the WA. A Court of Appeal judge yesterday described this risk as ‘fanciful’. It is not. Lack of documentary evidence of rights led to Windrush.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· May 15

First, the issue that has already cropped up (in Fertre; pic of @the3million.bsky.social team intervening). The UK government argues that ‘pre-settled status’ under the EU Settlement Scheme – *set up to implement the WA* is not a WA residence right, so holders are not entitled to equal treatment.

Image from the3million website, of the team acting to intervene in the Court of Appeal case of Fertre v Vale of White Horse District Council.

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· May 15

*Why* does it matter that NOBODY in the UK currently knows whether or not they have Withdrawal Agreement based residence rights? A Court of Appeal judge asked this yesterday. IT MATTERS, as our evidence to the HoL European Affairs Committee explains, for 3 reasons (spolier alert: one is Windrush):

Windrush commemoration monument, by Basil Walsh: image from the House of Lords website

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· May 15

What do we need to do before creating shiny new UK-EU reset rules? Make existing rules work properly! Our *newly published* response to the HoL consultation highlights a giant problem facing EUSS holders: a COMPLETE ABSENCE of evidence of WA rights. committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Mar 21

How many UK Supreme Court judges do you think ever acted as lawyers for a claimant in a social security case? ZERO. *Extremely nervous* to announce this rather bolshy ('somewhat contentious' and 'robust in tone') piece in the JSSL. I argue there is a 'professional diversity deficit' in UKSC, AND...

Screenshot of title and abstract of journal article. Title is 'The professional diversity deficit: the UK Supreme Court’s social security law blind spot'. Abstract is: 'It is no secret that the UK Supreme Court lacks demographic diversity. But there is very little commentary on a different diversity gap—that of professional experience. UK Supreme Court judges are typically drawn from lucrative areas of legal practice, creating a pronounced professional practice gap in the realm of social security law. None of the sitting Supreme Court judges have ever acted in a reported security case for social security claimants against the State. This creates a problem of perspective; would we really expect a panel of Goliath advocates to give David a fair hearing? This article highlights the hitherto under-explored evidence of a professional deficit on the Court, and argues that this cannot help but have an influence upon judicial perspectives. One such possible influence is the “alegalisation” of social security law—the treatment of it as not-law but as a matter of pure politics. Here, the article analyses how the line is drawn in key cases, in which it seems the Court feels responsible for defending some “pure law” human rights, while defending the courtroom from other human rights claims—those relating to social security. But poverty is a human rights issue, and human rights are (still) a matter of law. We need to bring social security expertise and claimant perspectives to the bench if we are to reassert the legal nature of social security rights.'

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Nov 21

We won the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize for Outstanding Public Policy Impact last night. An inspiring evening, learning about projects making profound differences, highlighting the power of research (see: Yvonne McDermott Rees; @richardmoorhead.bsky.social; and many more)

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Nov 20

Noooooooooo?!?!?! 😵😵😵

Charlotte O'Brien@cobrien· Nov 16

Final post on The Other Place