In this case the Court of Appeal took a purposive approach to the wording of the DDA and held that the applicant was a contract worker who could present a claim under the DDA against the end user.
Employment is one of the fields in which it aims to achieve that goal.
In order to achieve that result Parliament decided not to confine liability for discrimination in employment to the employer who discriminates against those employed by him under a traditional contract of service. Under section 12 liability is also imposed on those who, without entering into contracts of service with individual employees, make contracts for individuals employed by others to do work made available for them to do. Mr Tansell was a computer specialist, he offered his services through a company in which he was the sole shareholder. He had his name with a number of agencies, one of whom provided his services by contract to Abbey Life. However there was no contract between Abbey Life or Mr Tansell or the company of which he was the sole shareholder.