A Practical Guide to Non-Pecuniary Damages in Human Rights Act Claims – a new book by Saara Idelbi and Paige Jones

Meet the authors: Saara Idelbi and Paige Jones are barristers at 5 Essex Chambers.

Saara holds a Masters in Public Law and Human Rights, has worked as a judicial assistant in the UK and South Africa, and is an Advocacy Trainer at Gray’s Inn. She is appointed to the EHRC’s and Attorney General’s B Panels, and is a Fee-Paid First Tier Tribunal Judge in the Health and Social Entitlement Chambers.

Paige has a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law and has worked voluntarily with international development organisations and domestic charities on issues across the broad spectrum of human rights. Her practice covers public law, inquests and inquiries and civil disputes involving civil liberties.

Together, Saara and Paige have published a new book aiming to demystify the troublesome question of quantum in claims made under the Human Rights Act 1998. Their book, A Practical Guide to Non-Pecuniary Damages in Human Rights Act Claims, is a deep-dive into the catalogue of both domestic case law (covering England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and that of the European Court of Human Rights. It is organised by rights, and further organised thematically. The book highlights the principles established in the award of non-pecuniary damages and, in some cases, an explanation for why no such award was made in order to provide just satisfaction.

The aim of this book is to guide legal practitioners through the variety of contexts where non-pecuniary damages have been awarded, both in the United Kingdom or against the United Kingdom by the European Court of Human Rights (and occasionally straying a little further afield). This way, practitioners trying to calculate damages in order to advise their client, trying to work out whether a settlement offer is reasonable or who simply do not have the time to undertake hours’ worth of research can look to this book for simplified and easily accessible information on quantum.

As to why this book is so relevant to the legal profession now, Saara explained: ‘two and a half years ago, I had an idea for a book that I needed to save me from the hours I spent reading HRA cases only to reach an anticlimactic end; no damages awarded. Or even worse, a request for written submissions on remedy followed by precedent silence…’.

Saara and Paige hope that their research and time spent on this passion project will save other people from their own arduous research task and become a useful addition to a well-used bookshelf.

The book is available to purchase from the following retailers:

• Law Brief Publishing
• Waterstones
  
• Wildy and Sons
• Amazon (with optional Prime delivery)

---

Related barristers

Saara Idelbi

Call 2008

Paige Jones

Call 2021

Related areas

Civil Liberties and Human Rights

---