July 1, 2026

PPL -v- Cambridgeshire County Council (anonymity order)

Administrative Court High Court King's Bench Division Anonymity Order

Case number: AC-2026-LON-002865

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

In the matter of an application for judicial review

29 June 2026

Before:

Jonathan Richards,
Deputy High Court Judge

Between:

The King
on the application of
PPL
(a child, by her litigation friend, PPD)
(Claimant)

-v-

Cambridgeshire County Council
(Defendant)

Order

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

Following consideration of the documents filed by the Claimant

ORDER BY JONATHAN RICHARDS, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge

Reporting Restrictions and Anonymity:

Pursuant to section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and the Court’s inherent jurisdiction to protect the welfare of children:

(a) No person shall publish or cause to be published in any newspaper, broadcast, or other media (including online) the name, address, school, or any other particulars likely to lead to the identification of the Claimant or her litigation friend, save as may be necessary for the proper conduct of these proceedings or with the prior permission of the Court.

(b) In all court documents, judgments, and orders in these proceedings, the Claimant shall be referred to as “PPL” and her litigation friend as “her mother, PPD”.

The Claimant’s application for urgent consideration is granted. The Court will consider the claim on an expedited basis.
Within 28 days of the date of this Order, the Defendant shall:

(a) Secure and name in an amended or final EHC Plan a suitable specialist school placement for the Claimant, having proper regard to:

(i) the recommendations of the Educational Psychologist’s report dated 27 November 2025 for a trauma-informed, low-arousal, relational specialist educational placement; and

(ii) the parental preference (or such other suitable specialist placement as meets the Claimant’s needs); or

(b) in the alternative, if no specific school can be named within 28 days, file and serve written evidence setting out:

(i) the precise steps the Defendant has taken and proposes to take to secure a placement of the type “Special Provision”;

(ii) a clear and binding timetable for securing such a placement, with milestones, no later than 28 days from the date of this Order; and

(iii) confirmation that suitable full-time alternative education (EOTAS) will be provided in the interim that implements the key elements of the provision specified in the Claimant’s EHC Plan.

Within 28 days of the date of this Order (and pending the securing of a specialist placement), the Defendant shall arrange and commence the provision of suitable full-time alternative education (whether by way of EOTAS or otherwise) for the Claimant that is efficient and suitable to her age, ability, aptitude and special educational needs, and which implements the key elements of the provision specified in her EHC Plan (including but not limited to key adult support, emotional literacy teaching, sensory regulation supports, safe space, and learning adaptations as recommended in the EP report dated 27 November 2025).
The Defendant shall file and serve its Acknowledgement of Service together with Summary Grounds of Resistance within 14 days of service of this Order.
The matter shall be listed for an oral hearing on permission and/or interim relief on the first available date after 28 days, with a time estimate of 2 hours.
Any party has liberty to apply to vary or discharge this Order on 48 hours’ written notice to the other party.
The costs of this application are reserved.

Further 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 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 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.

OBSERVATIONS AND REASONS

(1) On the face of the documents served by the Claimant, this claim is arguable and urgent, given the background of the Claimant and the matters in issue in the proceedings.

Signed: JONATHAN RICHARDS

Date: 29 June 2026