Culture of non-compliance with Public Law Outline in London must change, says senior family law judge

The Family Presiding Judge for London has issued a practice note on adhering to the Public Law Outline in London.

In the note Mr Justice MacDonald wrote: “London remains an outlier in terms of the time it takes to determine care proceedings and the number of hearings it takes to do so. There is a concerning culture of non-compliance with the PLO. This must change.

“Practitioners can expect the PLO to be applied rigorously in London. This Practice Note, issued with the concurrence of the President of the Family Division, sets out the consequences of this.”

The practice note covers:

  • Adherence to the Family Procedure Rules 2010
  • Rigorous policing of ‘urgent’ applications
  • Making cases smaller
  • Stopping the ‘start again’ culture
  • Ensuring effective case management hearings
  • Immigration issues and foreign placements
  • Limiting expert evidence
  • Effective Issues Resolution Hearings
  • Limiting care proceedings to their proper statutory scope
  • Attendance at hearings
  • Controlling the use of intermediaries
  • Default on case management directions.

The practice note can be found here.

In November 2022 the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, called for a “radical resetting of the culture within the Family Court so that the system reconnects with the strictures of the PLO and, once again, aims to meet the statutory requirement of completing each public law case within 26 weeks”.

Section 32(1)(a) of the Children Act 1989 requires the court to draw up a timetable with a view to determining public law proceedings without delay and, in any event, within 26 weeks.
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