NCM -v- North Yorkshire Council (anonymity order)
Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order
Claim number: AC-2026-LDS-000213
In the High Court of Justice
King’s Bench Division
Administrative Court
26 October 2026
Before:
HHJ Klein
In the matter of an application for judicial review
Between:
The King
on the application of
NCM (a child, by their litigation friend, OKM)
-v-
North Yorkshire Council
Anonymity Order
On an application by the Claimant for (i) anonymity and for (ii) urgent interim relief and (iii) an abridgement of the time for the Defendant to file an Acknowledgement of Service
ORDER BY HH JUDGE KLEIN SITTING AS A HIGH COURT JUDGE
Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant:
- Anonymity:
a. Pursuant to CPR 39.2(4) and/or the Court’s inherent jurisdiction and/or s. 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998:
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 NCM and the litigation friend is to be referred to orally and in writing as OKM.
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.
c. Pursuant to CPR 5.4C(4):
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.
- The Claimant’s application for interim relief is adjourned to be determined, in the first instance, at same time as the Claimant’s application for permission to apply for judicial review is determined, subject to any other order the judge to whom that application for permission is referred may make;
- The Claimant’s application for an abridgement of time for the filing of the Acknowledgement of Service is dismissed;
- Any party affected by this order may apply to have it set aside, varied or stayed. Any such application must be made not more than 7 days after the date on which this order is served on the party making the application.
REASONS
(1) Anonymity: The Claimant is a child and the claim relies on personal medical and related information in which the Claimant has a reasonable expectation of privacy. There are accordingly compelling reasons for the limited derogations from the principle of open justice in paragraph 1.
(2) Litigants in person are expected to familiarise themselves with the CPR and with the Administrative Court Judicial Review Guide 2025. The Guide explains clearly in Chapter 17 when an application, including for interim relief, is an urgent application.
(3) The Claimant’s application for interim relief is not urgent. The fact that it was left until just before the start of the academic year before the application was made does not make it urgent for present purposes.
(4) NCM has not been in school since December 2025. The EHCP was finalised in April 2026. OKM requested the Defendant to make the EHCP provision for NCM in May 2026, and a co-production meeting took place in July 2026.
(5) The Defendant promised a pre-action response by 1 September 2026 and it is within about a couple of weeks of that date when the Acknowledgement of Service, including Summary Grounds of Defence if any, is otherwise due.
(6) For all these reasons, it is not appropriate to determine the application for interim relief urgently and it is not appropriate to order an abridgement of time for the Acknowledgement of Service.