Transparency in the Family Courts – changes to press reporting in Financial Remedy and Children Act proceedings

Over the last two years, Sir Andrew McFarlane (President of the Family Division) has launched and overseen a reporting pilot in the family courts, in which accredited journalists and bloggers have been permitted to report on some financial and children cases.

Journalists had previously been able to attend family hearings (with some exceptions) but were greatly restricted on what they were allowed to report. As a result, it was rare for reporters to attend and so there was a declining number of cases and judgments being reported. This led to calls for greater transparency in the family justice system.

In February 2020, the President launched the Transparency Review, looking at the arrangements which regulate access and reporting of family proceedings.

In October 2021, following the consultation period, the President published the ‘Transparency in the Family Court’ report. The report concluded that there needed to be a ‘major shift in culture and process’ when it came to increasing transparency in the family courts, so as to increase public confidence whilst also ensuring the anonymity of the families involved.

The report has led to a period of major change when it comes to who will be allowed to attend hearings and report publicly. In November 2022, the President announced a pilot scheme for reporting on children cases. At the time, it did not apply to financial cases, though a second pilot has since been established which applies to certain financial cases, including financial remedy cases on divorce.

The children pilot scheme

The pilot ran from January 2023 to January 2024 initially, and was extended in January 2024  to an additional 16 courts across the country, including the Central Family Court in London, and Guildford, Luton and Milton Keynes in the South East. As of this month, the transparency reporting pilot has been extended to include public and private law children cases before magistrates in all 19 pilot areas.

Under the children pilot, cases are listed anonymously with a code that identifies the issues in the case and whether reporters may attend the hearing.

The finance cases pilot scheme

The finances pilot was rolled out across Birmingham, Leeds, and the Central Family Court in January 2024. As of last week (11 November 2024), it has been extended to the Royal Courts of Justice.

Since the pilot came into effect, the court lists now include the names of the parties and the subject matter of the hearing. This change applies to all financial remedies courts, and not just the courts in the pilot.

Reporters will not be permitted to attend Financial Dispute Resolution hearings (FDRs) and all out-of-court settlements will remain confidential.

The court will consider whether to make a transparency order in any case in the pilot courts where a reporter attends a hearing. The transparency order is a standardised order which reverses the presumption against publication and sets out the rules of what can and cannot be reported on in any given case, and which documents a reporter is permitted to see and/or quote from. The starting-point for reporting remains the preservation of anonymity and confidentiality, and the judge retains a discretion to direct that there should be no reporting.

Conclusion

The pilots establish a default position that accredited reporters and bloggers may report on what they see and hear in family cases, subject to strict rules of anonymity.

Transparency orders provide the necessary clarity as to what can and cannot be reported. As a result of the pilot scheme, reporters now have greater freedom to report on family law cases, and so more journalists are starting to attend hearings, which will lead to more judgments being reported. It is envisaged this will bring greater clarity to the family law system.

It is also hoped that the changes will lead to more people using alternative methods of dispute resolution, for example mediation or arbitration, on the basis that these do not carry the same risk of publicity.

Discussing the extensions to the pilot schemes, Sir Andrew McFarlane has said that these are a ‘huge step in the judiciary’s ongoing work to increase transparency and improve public confidence and understanding of the family justice system’. It is anticipated that there are likely to be further changes when it comes to transparency in the family courts as the pilots progress.

If you have any questions relating to family law proceedings, please do not hesitate to contact any member of the Family team at Thomson Snell & Passmore.