Meers, J. (2026), ‘Blame Games in Reflexive Discrimination Law’, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 46(2) 444-476. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqag007 Abstract This article examines the upcoming commencement of the ‘socio-economic duty’ in section 1 of the Equality Act 2010 in England. The duty, which requires certain public bodies to have ‘due regard’ to reducing inequalities from socio-economic…
Meers, J. (2026), ”Everyone interfaces’: coding access to the digital welfare state’, Legal Studies 46(2) 292-317. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/lst.2026.10128 Abstract User interfaces – on the web, standalone apps, or internal systems – are now central to the design and operation of the welfare state, with profound implications for access to legal entitlements and the exercise of…
Bennett, H. and Meers, J. (2025), ‘Devolving digitalisation: local government, local welfare and the digital welfare state’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 47(2-3) 356-373. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2025.2530878 Abstract There is increasing interest in examining the digital welfare state. To date, much ethical and analytical scrutiny of digital welfare has focused on the large, nation-state…
Meers, J., Halliday, S. and Tomlinson, J. (2025), ‘An ‘interface first’ bureaucracy: Interface design, universal credit and the digital welfare state’, Social Policy & Administration 59(1) 119-134. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.13053 Abstract The front-line of the welfare state is increasingly not a letter, phone call or face-to-face visit, but an online user-interface. This ‘interface first’ bureaucracy is…
Meers, J. (2024), ‘Discrimination at the Interface: The Equality Act 2010 and Platform Interface Design’, The Modern Law Review 87(3) 640-669. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12855 Abstract Given their dominance in a range of sectors – from private renting to job search – the design of online platforms can impede access to markets and facilitate discrimination. Most legal…