November 10, 2023

HXN -v- London Borough of Redbridge (anonymity order)

Administrative Court High Court King's Bench Division Anonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2023-LON-002733

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

10 November 2023

Before:

Alan Bates sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court

Between:

The King on the application of
HXN (a child supported by his litigation friend, PK)

-v-

London Borough of Redbridge

and

The Governing Body of School GB (interested party)

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 (but not: (i) any documents filed by the Defendant, the Defendant having failed to file an Acknowledgement of Service; nor (ii) any documents filed by the Interested Party, the Interested Party not having filed an Acknowledgment of Service)

ORDER by Alan Bates sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court

Anonymity order / Reporting restrictions

1. In exercise of the Court’s power under section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, having regard to the Human Rights Act 1998 (including, in particular, Articles 8 and 10 of the Convention Rights) and pursuant to CPR Rule 39.2:
a. The Claimant shall have anonymity in these proceedings unless and until the Court orders otherwise. He shall be referred to in these proceedings (including in the title of this action henceforth) as “HXN”. There is to be no reporting of the Claimant’s name, the Claimant’s address, or any still or moving image of the Claimant, in a way that links him to these proceedings, without the Court’s prior permission.
b. In order to protect the Claimant from being identified, his litigation friend shall be referred to in these proceedings (including in the title of this action henceforth) as “PK”. There is to be no reporting of the litigation friend’s name, address, or any still or moving image of the litigation friend, in a way that links them to these proceedings, without the Court’s prior permission.
c. In order to protect the Claimant from being identified, the Interested Party (which is the school attended by the Claimant) shall be referred to in these proceedings (including in the title of this action henceforth) as “The Governing Body of School GB” (or simply as “School GB”). There is to be no reporting of the name or address of the Interested Party, or of any school that has been, is to be, or may in future be, attended by the Claimant in a way that links the school to these proceedings, without the Court’s prior permission. Nor is there to be any reporting of any still or moving image of such a school, or other information that is likely to lead to the identification of the school, in a way that links the school to these proceedings, without the Court’s prior permission.
d. Statements of case and skeleton arguments filed in these proceedings after the date of this order shall refer to the Claimant and the Interested Party using the anonymising monikers assigned to them in this paragraph of this Order, and shall not include: (a) the Claimant’s name or address; (b) the litigation friend’s name or address; (c) the name of any parent or sibling of the Claimant; or (d) the name or address of the Interested Party.
e. Pursuant to CPR 5.4C any non-party who applies for a copy of any document in these proceedings from the court records may be provided with such documents only if they are versions that have been anonymised and redacted so that they do not contain any of: (a) the Claimant’s name or address; (b) the litigation friend’s name or address; (c) the name of any parent or sibling of the Claimant; or (d) the name or address of the Interested Party.

2. Liberty to any person to apply on notice to the parties to vary or discharge paragraph 1 of this Order.

3. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in paragraph 1 of this Order prohibits the publication or reporting of the name of the local authority area within which the Claimant lives and/or he attends school.

Decision on permission to apply for judicial review

4. The application for permission to apply for judicial review (which raises a single ground of challenge) is granted.

Substantive hearing – Expedition and listing

5. The hearing of the claim is expedited and shall be listed for hearing on a date between Wednesday 6th and Friday 22nd December 2023 and or as soon thereafter as the court can accommodate the hearing, with a time estimate of 1 day. If the parties disagree with this time estimate they shall provide a written time estimate within 7 days of service of this order.

6. Case to be managed and heard in London.

Observations

1. Based on the documents filed by the Claimant, the claim appears arguable. It appears that the Defendant may be failing to provide the C with the identified special educational needs provision in accordance with his EHC Plan, in breach of s42(2) and (6) of the Children and Families Act 2014 CFA 2014 framework. As to the availability of alternative remedies, it appears that the Claimant has previously brought proceedings in the SEND Tribunal and sought to utilise the Defendant’s complaints processes but that these may not have been effective in securing the Defendant’s compliance with its alleged duties.

2. The Court expresses its disappointment that the Defendant has not filed an Acknowledgment of Service, nor provided a substantive response to the Claimant’s pre-action letter. The Court may consider the Defendant’s litigation conduct (including pre-action conduct) when taking decisions about costs in due course.

3. In view of the ongoing practical impact on the Claimant (who is a vulnerable child) of potentially not receiving educational provision to which he is legally entitled, it is appropriate for a degree of expedition to be ordered.

4. I have ordered that the Claimant, his litigation friend, and the name of the school to all be anonymised. This is appropriate and proportionate to protect the privacy of the Claimant, given his status as a vulnerable child and the fact that the proceedings are likely to involve factual evidence and submissions relating to sensitive matters relating to him.

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 12 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 6 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 8 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 7 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 4 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.