case law of the european court of human rights concerning the ...

4. Gaskin v. The United Kingdom, judgment of 7 July 1989, Series A no.160 (Violation of
Article 8 of the Convention). Refusal to grant former child in care unrestricted access to
case records kept by social services.
C (89) 90
7.7.89
Press release issued by the Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights
JUDGMENT IN THE GASKIN CASE
By a judgment delivered in Strasbourg on 7 July 1989 in the Gaskin case, which concerns the United
Kingdom, the Court held by eleven votes to six that the procedures followed in relation to access by
Mr Gaskin to his case records failed to secure respect for his private and family life as required by
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. ∗
I. BACKGROUND TO THE CASE
A. Summary of the facts
Following the death of his mother, the applicant, a British citizen born in 1959, was received into care on
1 September 1960 by the Liverpool City Council under the Children Act 1948. He ceased to be in the
care of the Council on attaining the age of majority (18) on 2 December 1977. During the period while
the applicant was in care, he was boarded out with various foster parents. He contends that he was
ill-treated.
Under the provisions of the Boarding-Out of Children Regulations 1955, the local authority was
under a duty to keep certain confidential records concerning the applicant and his care.
In 1979 the applicant, wishing to bring proceedings against the local authority for damages for
negligence, made an application under the Administration of Justice Act 1970 for discovery of the
local authority's case records made during his period in care. Discovery was refused by the High
Court on 22 February 1980, on the ground that case records compiled pursuant to the 1955
Regulations were private and confidential. This decision was confirmed by the Court of Appeal on
27 June 1980.
Between 1980 and 1983, various committees of the City Council adopted resolutions on the release of
child care records. To a certain extent, these resolutions were challenged in the courts. Finally, in
November 1983, Liverpool City Council adopted a further resolution which provided that the
information in the applicant's file should be made available to him if the contributors to the file gave
their consent to disclosure. This resolution was in line with the Circular issued by the Department of
Health and Social Security in August 1983.
The applicant's case record consisted of some 352 documents contributed by 46 persons. On 23 May
1986 copies of 65 documents supplied by 19 persons were sent to the applicant's solicitors. These
were documents whose authors had consented to disclosure to the applicant.
∗ The text of the Convention Articles referred to in this release is set out in the Appendix.
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