MA -v- Nottinghamshire County Council (anonymity order)

Case number: AC-2025-BHM-000242

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

In the matter of an application for judicial review

4 September 2025

Before:

HHJ Tindal
(Sitting as a Judge of the High Court)

Between:

The King
on the application of
MA
(a child by his Litigation Friend PA)

-v-

Nottinghamshire 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 Defendant

ORDER by HHJ Tindal (Sitting as a Judge of the High Court)

  1. The Claimant as a child is granted anonymity under CPR 39.2(4) and shall be known as ‘MA’. There shall be no publication of the name of the Claimant, any member of his family (including his Litigation Friend, who shall be known as ‘PA’) nor of any information that may lead to their identification. Reporting restrictions apply as to the disclosing of any information that may lead to the subsequent identification of the Claimant. The Defendant or any non-party affected by this paragraph may apply to have it set aside or varied.
  2. Time for the Defendant to file and serve its Acknowledgment of Service and Summary Grounds of Defence is extended to 12th September 2025.
  3. The Claimant shall have 7 days from the date of service of the Defendant’s Summary Grounds of Defence to file and serve any Reply, if so advised.
  4. The case will then be considered by the Court on an expedited basis.
  5. Costs in the case.

Reasons

  1. The Claimant is a child with a diagnosis of Menke-Hennekam Syndrome. He has a range of complex special educational needs. Since April 2020, the Defendant has maintained an ‘Education Health and Care Plan’ (‘EHCP’) for him which must be provided under s.42 Children and Families Act 2014 (‘the Act’). In 2024, the Claimant in claim AC-2024-BHM-000061 successfully judicially reviewed the breach of s.42 by the Defendant. This led to an Order by HHJ Rawlings of 27th February 2025 making declarations and mandatory orders for various provision.
  2. The present claim, issued on 8th August 2025, contends that there is an ongoing failure to secure the provision specified in the EHCP in breach of s.42 of the Act (but does not suggest there is a breach of the Order of 27th February 2025 as such). The Claimant requests anonymity (which I will grant on the same basis as the last claim) and expedition, but the Defendant has applied to extend time for its Acknowledgement of Service to 12th September 2025. I will grant that as well, as the claim was issued half-way through the school holidays when key staff were absent and the Court requires the Defendant’s full response to an alleged ongoing breach of duty, despite a prior finding of breach by the Court. However, once the Claimant has filed a Reply, the issue of permission can be considered on an expedited basis by the Court and if it is granted, by expedited directions.

Signed: HHJ Tindal

Date: 04 September 2025