Ministers publish draft legislation for family justice reforms
The Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education have published draft legislation that will implement key changes to family justice, including the 26-week time limit for completing care proceedings.
On the public law front, the reforms are intended to reduce delay and duplication.
The explanatory notes accompanying the draft legislation said: "The changes made by the provisions are intended to ensure the more timely progression of care and supervision proceedings in the interests of children.
“The intention is to do this by providing a clear focus on the timetable for such proceedings, by ensuring that additional evidence is only requested where it is necessary to conclude the proceedings justly and by streamlining processes.”
The main elements “are:
- putting in place a maximum 26-week time limit for the completion of care and supervision proceedings, with the possibility of extending the time limit in a particular case for up to eight weeks at a time should that be necessary to resolve proceedings justly;
- ensuring that decisions regarding the timetable for the case are child focused and made with explicit reference to the child’s welfare;
- removing the eight-week time limit on the duration of initial interim care orders (ICOs) and interim supervision orders (ISOs), and the four-week time limit on subsequent orders, and allowing the court to make interim orders for the length of time it sees fit, although not extending beyond the date when the relevant care or supervision order proceedings are disposed of;
- requiring the court to focus, when considering the care plan, on those issues which are essential to the court’s decision as to whether an order should be made, namely the provisions of the care plan that set out the long term plan for the upbringing of the child; and
- ensuring that expert evidence in family proceedings concerning children is permitted only when necessary to resolve the case justly, taking account of factors including the impact on the welfare of the child, and whether the information could be obtained from one of the parties already involved in the proceedings.”
The provisions, which can be viewed here, also contain changes to private law.
They follow the recommendations of the Family Justice Review’s final report in November 2011 and the Government’s response in February 2012.
Publication of the document was one of the last acts in government of ministers Tim Loughton and Jonathan Djanogly, who both lost their posts in the reshuffle this week.
In the foreword, they wrote: “These important changes will improve a system that too often fails the children, young people and families it should serve.”
The reforms are expected to form part of a package of children and families legislation to be announced in the Queen’s Speech.
Philip Hoult