BUI -v- West Northamptonshire Council (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2025-BHM-000196

In the High Court of Justice
King’s Bench Division
Administrative Court

6 August 2025

Before:

His Honour Judge Simon

Between:

The King on the application of
BUI

-v-

West Northamptonshire Council

Order

Notification of the Judge’s Decision (CPR 54.11, 54.12)

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant and the Defendant’s Acknowledgment of Service and summary grounds

ORDER BY HIS HONOUR JUDGE SIMON sitting as a Judge of the High Court

  1. Defendant: The name of the Defendant is amended to West Northamptonshire Council (not County Council).
  2. Anonymity:
    (a) Pursuant to CPR 39.2(4) and/or the Court’s inherent jurisdiction and/or s. 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998:
    (i) the Claimant’s name is to be withheld from the public and must not be disclosed in any proceedings in public; and
    (ii) the Claimant is to be referred to orally and in writing as ‘BUI’.
    (b) Pursuant to s. 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, there must be no publication of the identity of the Claimant or of any matter likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant in any report of, or otherwise in connection with, these proceedings.
    (c) Pursuant to CPR 5.4C(4):
    (i) the parties must within 7 days file a redacted copy of any statement of case filed, omitting the name, address and any other information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant;
    (ii) if any statement of case subsequently filed includes information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant, a redacted copy omitting that information must be filed at the same time;
    (iii) unless the Court grants permission under CPR 5.4C(6), no non-party many obtain a copy of any unredacted statement of case.
    (d) Any person wishing to vary or discharge this Order must make an application, served on each party.
  3. Amended grounds: Permission to the Claimant to rely on amended grounds and additional evidence.
  4. Permission: Permission to apply for judicial review is refused.
  5. Interim relief: The application for interim relief is refused.
  6. Costs: No order for costs.
  7. Renewal directions: Where the Claimant makes a valid request for reconsideration (see notes below), the following directions apply:
    (a) The permission hearing is to be listed with a time estimate of 30 minutes, including submissions by the parties and an oral judgment by the judge. If the Claimant considers that more time should be allowed, the time estimate must be included with the request for reconsideration of permission.
    (b) Within 21 days of the service of this Order, the Claimant must file and serve an electronic copy of the Permission Hearing Bundle, prepared in accordance with the guidance on the Administrative Court website and containing the following documents:
    (i) the Claim Form, Statement of Facts and Grounds and any evidence or other documents filed with the Claim Form;
    (ii) any Acknowledgment of Service, Summary Grounds of Defence and any accompanying documents served by any Defendant and/or Interested Party;
    (iii) any Reply or other document served by any party to the proceedings at the paper permission stage;
    (iv) this Order;
    (v) the renewed application for permission to apply for judicial review (on Form 86B);
    (vi) any other document the Court would be likely to consider material to its decision on permission to apply for judicial review.
    (c) If the Claimant fails to comply with sub-paragraph (b), permission will be determined on the basis of the renewal notice and the documents before the Court at the paper stage, unless at the hearing the Court otherwise directs.
    (d) At least 7 days before the date listed for the hearing, the Claimant must file and serve:
    (i) a skeleton argument, maximum 10 pages;
    (ii) an electronic bundle containing any authorities which the Court needs to read at the hearing (the Authorities Bundle: see para. 22.1.2 of the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide); and
    (iii) if requested by the Court, a hard copy version of the Permission Hearing Bundle and Authorities Bundles.
    (e) At least 7 days before the date listed for the hearing, any party other than the Claimant intending to participate in the hearing must file and serve any skeleton argument, maximum 10 pages.
    (f) If a party fails to comply with sub-paragraph (b), (d) and/or (e), the Court may have regard to the failure when considering any question about costs at the hearing.

Reasons

(1) The Claimant seeks to challenge the Defendant’s decision, following an age assessment process, that he is considerably older than 18 years of age. Given the very personal issues raised by the Claim, I am satisfied that an order for anonymity is justified, despite the refusal of permission.
(2) The Claimant seeks to rely on amended/expanded grounds and additional evidence. I grant permission for him to do so.
(3) Despite the amended grounds and additional evidence, which do not materially advance the public law basis of the claim, I do not consider any of the grounds to be properly arguable with a reasonable prospect of success. The Defendant’s assessment was not based merely on physical appearance but involved greater detail. There is a requirement of fairness, which includes giving the individual the opportunity to respond to views taken of the information by those undertaking the assessment, usually through a ’minded to’ process. Such a process was engaged in this case. The absence of an appropriate adult alone does not automatically render an otherwise arguably fair process unfair. Neither the process nor the decision is arguably challengeable on public law principles.
(4) Those acting for the Claimant challenge what they describe as the Defendant’s policy in the way they undertake the assessment and communicate the outcome. The evidence does not support this as an arguable ground of challenge.
(5) It follows that the application for interim relief is refused.

Requests to reconsider permission at a hearing pursuant to CPR
54.12

Where the Claimant wishes to request reconsideration of the refusal of permission at a hearing:
(a) The request must be made by completing and filing Form 86B within 7 days after the date of service of this Order.
(b) A fee is payable on filing Form 86B. Details of the current fees are at https://www.gov.uk/court-fees-what-they-are. The form to make an application for remission of a court fee can be obtained at https://www.gov.uk/get-help-with-court-fees.
(c) If the Claimant does not pay the fee or submit a certified application for fee remission, paragraph 1 of this Order is final.