The Claimant was bringing various complaints of discrimination and victimisation against various colleges of the University of Oxford. He indicated on his claim form that he had a disability and that he would require assistance, including by way of being permitted to use a recording device during any hearing. The ET directed that there should be a preliminary case management hearing, and the Claimant should apply for permission to record the proceedings at that hearing. The Claimant appealed against the ET's direction on grounds including that the ET had erred (1) in using the ET Rules (rather than the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998) to deal with the question of adjustments, (2) in requiring the Claimant to make an application for reasonable adjustments, and (3) in failing to determine the question of adjustments in advance of the hearing.

The EAT held that there was no error of law (1) in the ET approaching the matter as one of case management in accordance with the ET Rules, (2) in inviting the Claimant to proceed by way of an application, which would give him the opportunity to explain the need for proceedings to be recorded and why other adjustments would not be reasonable or sufficient, and (3) in providing for the Claimant to make his application at the hearing, since the ET had stated that, while it did not see why it was necessary for this issue to be determined before the hearing, it would have considered the Claimant's application before the hearing if he had provided the ET with the relevant material.