January 16, 2025

EW -v- Hampshire County Council (anonymity order)

Administrative Court High Court King's Bench Division Anonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2024-LON-003885

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

16 January 2025

Before:

Timothy Corner KC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge

Between:

EW (by his father and litigation friend TW)

-v-

Hampshire County Council

Order

Notification of the Judge’s decision on the application for permission to apply for judicial review (CPR 54.11, 54.12)

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant and the Acknowledgement of service filed by the Defendant

ORDER by Timothy Corner KC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge

1. The application for permission to apply for judicial review is granted.

2. Pursuant to CPR r.39.2, the identity of the Claimant shall not be directly or indirectly disclosed, and these proceedings shall be known as “R (EW by his father and litigation friend, TW) v Hampshire County Council”.

3. Pursuant to CPR Rule 5.4C a person who is not a party to these proceedings may only obtain a copy of a statement of case, judgment, order or other document from the court records if the document has been anonymised such that: (a) the Claimant is referred to as EW his father is referred to as TW and (b) the address of the Claimant has been deleted.

4. Insofar as any statement of case, judgment, order or other document to which anyone might have access pursuant to CPR Rule 5.4A-D has not been anonymised in accordance with paragraph 3 above, the Claimant has permission to file with the court an anonymised copy of that document, which is to be treated for all purposes as being in substitution for the relevant original, with the original being retained by the court in a sealed envelope marked “not to be opened without the permission of a Judge or Master of the King’s Bench Division.”

5. Any interested party, whether or not a party to these proceedings, may apply to the court for an order setting aside, varying or discharging paragraphs 2 – 4 of this Order, provided that any such application is made on 7 working days’ notice to the Claimant.

6. The hearing of the claim is expedited and shall be listed for hearing in week commencing 17 February 2025, or as soon thereafter as the court can accommodate the hearing, with a time estimate of 3 hours. If the parties disagree with this time estimate they shall provide a written time estimate within 7 days of service of this order.

Observations

1. The case is arguable for the reasons given in the Claimant’s Statement of Facts and Grounds and Reply. For the reasons given by the Claimant, the hearing should be expedited.

Case Management Directions

1. The Defendant and any other person served with the Claim Form who wishes to contest the claim or support it on additional grounds shall, within 10 days of the date of service of this Order, file and serve (a) Detailed Grounds for contesting the claim or supporting it on additional grounds, and (b) any written evidence that is to be relied on. For the avoidance of doubt, a party who has filed and served Summary Grounds pursuant to CPR 54.8 may comply with (a) above by filing and serving a document which states that those Summary Grounds shall stand as the Detailed Grounds required by CPR 54.14.

2. Any application by the Claimant to serve evidence in reply shall be filed and served within 5 days of the date on which the Defendant serves evidence pursuant to 1(b) above.

3. The parties shall agree the contents of the hearing bundle and must file it with the Court not less than 7 days before the date of the hearing of the judicial review. An electronic version of the bundle shall be prepared and lodged in accordance with the Guidance on the Administrative Court website. The parties shall, if requested by the Court lodge 2 hard-copy versions of the hearing bundle.

4. The Claimant must file and serve a Skeleton Argument not less than 5 days before the date of the hearing of the judicial review.

5. The Defendant and any Interested Party must file and serve a Skeleton Argument not less than 3 days before the date of the hearing of the judicial review.

6. The parties shall agree the contents of a bundle containing the authorities to be referred to at the hearing. An electronic version of the bundle shall be prepared in accordance with the Guidance on the Administrative Court website. The parties shall if requested by the Court, prepare a hard-copy version of the authorities bundle. The electronic version of the bundle and if requested, the hard copy version of the bundle, shall be lodged with the Court not less than 2 days before the date of the hearing of the judicial review.