CJ, R (on the application of) v Worcestershire County Council

Facts

The claimant, C, is a 16 year-old boy with Down syndrome and complex special educational needs who lives with his parents and two siblings in a touring caravan based in Malvern on land owned by his late paternal grandfather. C belongs to the fairground showmen community, part of the wider Traveller community, and spends some 60% of the year travelling out of county; when in Worcestershire he attends a special school and has an Education, Health and Care Plan. The caravan has a cramped combined shower and chemical cassette toilet room. Worcestershire County Council, the responsible local authority for C's social care needs, had been providing three calls a week by carers from Ability Care Agency who took C to a pre-booked hotel to be bathed, in and out of county. Following a Child In Need assessment in November 2023 the authority ceased that support, but reinstated it after pre-action correspondence pending re-assessment. A Parent Carer Needs Assessment followed in August 2024, a Child In Need re-assessment in April 2025, and on 1 October 2025 an updated Parent Carer Needs Assessment and an addendum to the re-assessment, which concluded that carers and hotel bathing were no longer required and that C's parents could meet his needs with a phased withdrawal of provision. C issued judicial review proceedings on 17 October 2025, obtaining interim relief the same day and permission on both grounds on 12 November 2025.