Case No. UKUT-00338-(IAC)

 [2011] EWCA Civ 1590; [2012] PTSR 1235. In his judgment in that case, Pitchford LJ (with whom Laws LJ and Lloyd Jones J (as he then was) agreed) held that the nature of the court's enquiry under the Children Act is inquisitorial and that it was inappropriate to speak in terms of a burden of establishing a precedent or jurisdictional fact: [21]. The court is required, Pitchford LJ continued, to apply the balance of probability without resorting to the concept of discharge of a burden of proof, and a sympathetic assessment of the evidence is appropriate.46.An applicant’s real age is a question of ‘hard-edged fact’ which it is necessary to resolve by receiving evidence which is usually tested by cross-examination. In such cases, which represent a departure from the usual approach in judicial review proceedings, there is a heightened duty of disclosure on the respondent: