NHL -v- Surrey County Council (anonymity order)

Administrative CourtHigh CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Case number: AC-2025-LON-004573

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

In the matter of an application for judicial review

10 June 2026

Before:

Simon Tinkler
sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge

Between:

The King
on the application of
NHL
(acting by his litigation friend, NHX)
(Claimant)

-v-

Surrey County Council
(Defendant)

Order

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

Following consideration of the documents filed by the Claimant and the Defendant

ORDER BY SIMON TINKLER SITTING AS A DEPUTY HIGH COURT JUDGE

  1. Permission to apply for judicial review:

(a) Permission is granted on grounds 1 and 2

(b) Permission is refused on grounds 3 and 4.

  1. Anonymity

    The application for anonymity under CPR 39.2(4) is granted. The claimant is to be identified as NHL and the litigation friend as NHX.
  2. Litigation Friend

    The claimant’s mother NHX is appointed as temporary litigation friend. That appointment will expire at 4pm on the date 21 days after service of this order unless a duly completed form N235 is filed at the court.
  1. Case Management Directions:

(a) The Defendant must, within 35 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 21 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 28 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 28 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 14 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 7 days before the date of the substantive hearing.

(h) The time estimate for the substantive hearing is 2 hours. If either party considers that this time estimate should be varied, they must inform the court as soon as possible.

(i) Where permission has been granted on some grounds but refused on others, the Claimant may request reconsideration of the decision to refuse permission at a hearing. This must be done by filing and serving a completed Form 86B within 7 days after the date on which this order is served on the Claimant. The reconsideration hearing will be fixed in due course. However, if all parties agree and time estimates for substantive hearing allow, the reconsideration may take place immediately before the substantive hearing. The Administrative Court Office must be notified within 21 days of the service and filing of Form 86B if the parties agree to this course.

OBSERVATIONS AND REASONS

(1) No placement is named in the EHCP. That was agreed on behalf of the claimant. There is no obligation to secure a specific placement in a particular timeframe. Permission is therefore refused in relation to Ground 3.

(2) Ground 4 in essence repeats Grounds 1 and 2 and permission is refused to bring that claim.

Signed: Simon Tinkler

Date: 10 June 2026