March 12, 2025

MIA -v- London Borough of Camden (anonymity order)

Administrative Court Civil High Court King's Bench Division Anonymity Order

Case number: AC-2024-LON-004185

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

In the matter of an application for judicial review

5 March 2025

Before:

Anneli Howard KC
(sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge)

Between:

The King
on the application of
MIA
(by her father and litigation friend, MVL)

-v-

London Borough of Camden

Order

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

Following consideration of the documents filed by the Claimant, the Defendant’s revised Acknowledgement of Service (“AOS”) , including summary grounds (“SG”) Having regard to the Claimant’s applications for anonymity and expedition

ORDER BY Anneli Howard KC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge)

Anonymity: Pursuant to CPR Rule 39.2(4), the identify of the Claimant and her Litigation Friend shall not be directly or indirectly disclosed. In particular:

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 MIA and her Litigation Friend is to be referred to as MVL.

iii. The proceedings shall be known as R (MIA by her father and litigation friend, MVL) v London Borough of Camden.

(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.

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.

Permission to apply for judicial review: Permission is granted on all grounds.
Expedition: The hearing of the claim is expedited and, subject to listing constraints, should be listed before the end of July 2025.
Case Management Directions:

(a) The Defendant must, within 21 days of the date of service of this Order, file and serve (i) Detailed Grounds for contesting the claim or supporting it on additional grounds and (ii) any written evidence to be relied on.

(b) The Defendant may comply with sub-paragraph (a)(i) above by filing and serving a document which states that its Summary Grounds are to stand as the Detailed Grounds required by CPR 54.14.

(c) Any application by the Claimant to serve evidence in reply must be filed and served, together with a copy of that evidence, within 14 days of the date on which the Defendant serves evidence pursuant to (a) above.

(d) The parties must agree the contents of the hearing bundle. An electronic version of the bundle must be prepared and lodged, in accordance with the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide Chapter 21 and the Guidance on the Administrative Court website, not less than 14 days before the date of the substantive hearing. The parties must, if requested by the Court, lodge 2 hard-copy versions of the hearing bundle.

(e) The Claimant must file and serve a Skeleton Argument (maximum 25 pages), complying with CPR 54 PD para. 15 and the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide paras 20.1 to 20.3, not less than 14 days before the date of the substantive hearing.

(f) The Defendant must file and serve a Skeleton Argument (maximum 25 pages), complying with CPR 54 PD para. 15 and the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide paras 20.1 to 20.3, not less than 7 days before the date of the substantive hearing.

(g) The parties must agree the contents of a bundle containing the authorities to be referred to at the hearing. An electronic version of the bundle must be prepared in accordance with the Guidance on the Administrative Court website. The parties must, 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, must be lodged with the Court not less than 5 days before the date of the substantive hearing.

(h) The time estimate for the substantive hearing is 1.5 days. If either party considers that this time estimate should be varied, they must inform the court as soon as possible.

(i) CPR 2.11 (variation of timetable by written agreement between the parties) does not apply.

OBSERVATIONS AND REASONS

(1) The Claimant (through her father and litigant in person) challenges the Defendant’s failures to secure her special educational needs provision as set out in her Education Health and Care Plan, which was first issued in June 2023 and then revised in September 2024, following an appeal to the First Tier Tribunal.

(2) The issues raise personal matters relating to the Claimant’s health and personal medical information, to which the Claimant has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Those privacy concerns merit protection of her identity as well as that if her father. There are accordingly compelling reasons for the limited derogations from the principle of open justice.

(3) The Claimant raises an arguable error of law that the Defendant has breached s.42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. The Defendant contests the claim but acknowledges the delay, particularly in delivering the occupational therapy and speech and language therapy but contends that it is meeting the teaching assistant support requirements.

(4) The Claimant is now 6 years old and has been waiting for SEN provision for a number of years, which will have a significant impact on important stages of her education and development. It would be optimal to resolve these issues before the start of the new academic year in September 2025. Subject to listing constraints, the hearing should be listed before the end of the summer term.

Signed: Anneli Howard KC
Date: 5 March 2025