Family Court reporting provisions to extend to all family courts in England and Wales

The Family Court reporting pilot is to be rolled out nationally from Monday 27 January through changes to the Family Procedure Rules.

New ‘Reporting Provisions’ will apply in all family courts in England and Wales, meaning that journalists and legal bloggers will be able to report on what they see and hear whilst attending any family court, if a transparency order is granted.

The change means that there is a presumption that a transparency order, protecting the anonymity of the children and family, is granted, unless there is a “legitimate reason not to”, said the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary.

The reporting pilot followed the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane’s, Transparency Review, and started in January 2023 in Cardiff, Leeds and Carlisle.

The pilot was extended in January 2024 to cover nearly half of the family courts in England and Wales.

According to the Judiciary, there have been no known breaches of anonymity in reporting under the pilot.

It noted that implementation to the remaining courts will follow “stepped arrangements”, as in the reporting pilot, starting with public law cases, then private law cases and finally magistrates. 

Lottie Winson