Spotlight on transparency: PMC (a child by his mother and litigation friend FLR) v A Local Health Board

Marisa Cohen Doughty Street Chambers

In the case of PMC (a child by his mother and litigation friend FLR) v A Local Health Board [2024] EWHC 2969 (KB) Nicklin J handed down a significant judgment on applications for anonymity and reporting restriction orders. The judgment applies in any case in which an order of this kind is sought but has particular application for those cases concerning children and other vulnerable parties – although not a family courts’ case family law practitioners and children’s rights lawyers should have an awareness of it.

PMC sought orders for anonymity and restrictions on reporting on the basis of his age his likely lack of capacity and vulnerability to exploitation. Nicklin J noted that the litigation was likely to involve consideration of intensely private and medical information concerning PMC. As explained below PMC’s application was refused because the application had not been made at the outset of the proceedings and the purpose of the application was undermined...