Mike Dailly

The case against the Home Office and its contractor Serco was launched in the name of two women in Glasgow who were told their locks would be changed.

The appeal comes as Serco restarted the process of lock change evictions, without informing key partners as promised, GLC said.

The appeal is backed by Positive Action in Housing, a homelessness and human rights refugee and migrant rights charity.

GLC’s solicitor advocate Mike Dailly said: “With the decision of the Outer House judge being subject to live appeal proceedings, GLC would trust that Serco Ltd would continue their previous undertaking not to undertake lock-change evictions in Glasgow pending the appeal.

“The failure to do so would occasion the unnecessary legal expense of raising multiple interim interdict actions at Glasgow Sheriff Court pending the outcome of the appeal to Scotland’s supreme civil court.

“GLC believes our client has reasonably good prospects and grounds of appeal. We were delighted that Lord Tyre held Serco was a public body for the purpose of the Human Rights Act 1998 – something that both Serco and the Home Office had strongly resisted at the debate in February this year.

“Our understanding is that jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights – which has been followed in appellate courts in the UK – requires the interference with our client’s human rights by a lock-change eviction to be compatible with the rule of law, and not just her article 8 right to respect for her home and family life”.