MM and others -v- London Borough of Southwark (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Claim number: AC-2025-LON-002594

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

13 March 2026

BEFORE:

THE HON. Mr JUSTICE BUTCHER

BETWEEN:

THE KING on the application of
MM, AA, and JA, AYA, SA and AKA by their litigation friend MM

-v-

London Borough of Southwark

Order

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

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant

And upon considering the Claimants’ applications for an anonymity order and for permission to apply for judicial review

ORDER BY THE HON. Mr JUSTICE BUTCHER

  1. Anonymity:
    (a) Pursuant to CPR 39.2(4) and/or the Court’s inherent jurisdiction, until further order:
    (i) The Claimants’ identities shall be anonymised and shall not be directly or indirectly disclosed; and
    (ii) The Claimants are to be referred to respectively as MM, AA, JA, AYA, SA and AKA
    (b) Pursuant to s. 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, there must be no publication of the identity of the Claimants or of any matter likely to lead to the identification of the Claimants in any report of, or otherwise in connexion with, these proceedings.
    (c) Pursuant to CPR 5.4C(4):
    (i) The parties must, when filing any statement of case, also file a redacted copy of that statement of case omitting the name, address and any other information likely to lead to the identification of the Claimants;
    (ii) Unless the Court grants permission under CPR 5.4C(6), no non-party may obtain a copy of any unredacted statement of case.
    (d) The Defendant or any non-party affected by this anonymity order may apply for an order setting aside, varying or discharging this order, provided that such application is made on 3 days notice to the Claimants.
    (e) Pursuant to CPR 39.2(5) and the Practice Guidance: Publication of Privacy and Anonymity Orders dated 16 April 2019 a copy of this order shall be published on the Judicial Website of the High Court of Justice (www.judiciary.uk). For that purpose, a court officer will send a copy of the order by email to judicialwebupdates@ejudiciary.uk
  2. Litigation Friend: MM is appointed as litigation friend of JA, AYA, SA and AKA.
  3. Amendment of Claim Form and Statement of Facts and Grounds: Permission is granted for the amendment of the Claim Form and Statement of Facts and Grounds as sought by application dated 13 January 2026. The Defendant is to have 21 days from the date of service of this order to file an amended Acknowledgement of Service.
  4. Permission: Permission to apply for judicial review in relation to Ground 4 (being the only Ground currently pursued) is refused.
  5. Costs: No order as to costs.
  6. Renewal directions: Where the Claimant makes a valid request for reconsideration of the refusal of permission (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) Anonymity. An anonymity order is necessary to secure the proper administration of justice and to protect the interests of the Claimants (including the interests of the vulnerable children and their and their parents’ rights including under Article 8 ECHR), as an exceptional derogation from the principles of open justice.

(2) Permission. Grounds 1-3 are not pursued because they have been superseded by the fresh assessments carried out by the Defendant of October 2025. Ground 4 is not arguable with a realistic prospect of success. The Claimants would need to surmount a high bar to establish a breach of Article 8 (as acknowledged in paragraph 110 of the Statement of Facts and Grounds). In the present case, where the family has been housed, and where the Defendant has been making efforts to comply with its duties, it is not arguable that the threshold has been crossed.