PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 25379/02) against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a British national, Mr Geoffrey Twizell (“the applicant”), on 7 June 2002.

The United Kingdom Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr C. Whomersley of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London.

By a decision of 12 November 2002 the Court decided to communicate the application. Subsequently, under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, the President of the Chamber to which the case had been allocated, decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1941 and lives in France.

His wife died on 26 March 2001. They had no children from the marriage. His claim for widows’ benefits under the new system in place as from 9 April 2001 was made on 4 May 2001 and was rejected on 4 June 2001 on the ground that he was not entitled to widows’ benefits. On 10 July 2001 the applicant appealed. Reconsideration took place on 23 July 2001 and the decision remained unchanged. On 15 November 2001 his appeal was heard and dismissed by an Appeal Tribunal. On 23 November 2001 the applicant applied for leave to appeal to the Social Security Commissioner. On 20 February 2002 the applicant was informed that his request had been disallowed.

The applicant did not appeal further as he considered or was advised that such a remedy would be bound to fail since no such social security or tax benefits were payable to widowers under United Kingdom law.