Delayed judgments in child care cases

The Court of Appeal recently considered what action a court should take when the preparation and handing down of a judgment in a child welfare case has been very substantially delayed. Lynne Braby-Pavitt reports.

The case of Re T (Children) [2015] EWCA Civ 606, 18 June 2015 is an interesting one as the circumstances for the appeal were unusual but the message that arises is relevant to case management of every case.

The case concerned ten children. Six were removed into care and four remained in their parents' care under interim supervision orders pending judgment. The local authority sought care orders for all the children and placement orders for four of the children. The plan for the older children was long-term foster care.

The issue that gave rise to the appeal to the Court of Appeal was the judgment of HHJ Meston QC which was delayed by 6 months. The Judge had on his own motion made an open-ended extension which did not comply with section 32 of the Children Act 1989, which only allows up to eight week extensions. It was also in contravention of the Family Procedure Rule (FPR) 12.26C which requires reasons for a decision to extend the 26 week deadline and an explanation of the impact of the delay on the child, which was missing.

This peculiar extension made by the Judge did not take into consideration the impact upon the child, especially those awaiting Placement Orders and essentially left the children in limbo. The Judge had not provided any written reasons for the need for more time and had not provided a child focussed timescale for the submission of his judgment.

Although the Judge had, prior to his judgment, allowed the father to file addendum written submissions and saw one of the children, there was no analysis of the content or extra information within the judgment. The judgment was, therefore, flawed in many ways.

Given such prejudicial delay and contravention to the rules of case management it is surprising the local authority in the case had not written to the Court urging for the judgment to be delivered and to seek a directions hearing pursuant to FPR 12.24. It appears the local authority and the other parties may have been content for the delay as there was evidence that change was happening in the family and the parents appeared to be managing the children – when before they had not.

The changes taking place should have been noted by the Judge in his judgment and it is arguable that he would have been assisted by further analysis of the Guardian and social worker. The need to advise the Judge of relevant updating information should again have been proactively progressed via a directions hearing which could have ordered the submission of this updating material and provided a date for the judgment to be delivered.

Although it is rare to experience the delay seen in this case there have been examples of short delays which have caused issues especially when the outcome of fact finding hearings are awaited to determine the decision making in respect of children who are yet to be born or are still at home.

The Court of Appeal held that if the delay in the judgment is prejudicial to the child, which it is suggested could be as little as a week, those case managing should be proactive in stating the position to the Court. Further, if the Court seeks more time, this does not mean the reasons have to be accepted by the parties without further exploration as to the reasons why this could not be avoided.

The message from the Court of Appeal is clear, that responsive and proactive case management is required to ensure that the child is not prejudiced by delay and this includes seeking a directions hearing to address the issue. In addition the parties must be alert to updating the Judge with evidence that arises during the time between final hearing and judgment being delivered.

Lynne Braby-Pavitt is a barrister in the People Department at ELS. She can be contacted on 03330 139624 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..