Reporting allowed in family courts in “watershed moment for justice”

New open reporting provisions will apply from today (Monday 27 January) in all family courts in England and Wales.

This means journalists and legal bloggers are now able to report on what they see and hear whilst attending any family court, if a transparency order is granted.

Members of the media can also request documents, and speak to, and quote, people involved in proceedings. The open reporting provisions mean that there is a presumption that a transparency order, protecting the anonymity of the children and their families, is granted, unless there is a legitimate reason not to.

The new provisions follow the success of the Family Court Reporting Pilot, which started in 2023, and was progressively rolled out over the next two years. The Reporting Pilot was launched in January 2023 in Leeds, Carlisle and Cardiff and one year later was extended to 16 further court areas.

One mother, whose case was covered by reporters as part of the Pilot, told the BBC the change was “fantastic news”. Her ex-husband, the child's father, had been convicted of multiple offences relating to child sexual abuse (CSA), and the court agreed he should lose parental to their daughter.

“Allowing reporting in the Family Court sheds light on issues that the public should have the right to know about,” the mother said, reacting to the new open reporting provisions.

At the end of 2024 the Family Procedure Rule Committee approved the extension to all family courts and made the required changes to the Family Procedure Rules and issued new practice directions.

“The establishment of the open reporting provisions in all family courts in England and Wales is a watershed moment for family justice,” President of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane, the UK’s most senior family judge, said.

“Improving public understanding and confidence in the Family Court is of fundamental importance. Over the last two years there has been a presumption that journalists and legal bloggers can report what they see and hear from pilot courts in England and Wales. The reporting that we have seen has been significant, and includes coverage of issues affecting some of the most vulnerable people in our society, such as: children subject to Deprivation of Liberty Orders; the need to limit parental rights for convicted paedophiles and cases of child neglect or abandonment.

“There have been no known breaches of anonymity of children, and the aims of the pilot, to increase public understanding and awareness of the Family Court, are being realised. I am grateful to all in the court system who have supported the pilot, but I would particularly like to thank all of the journalists and legal bloggers who have engaged with the pilot over the last two years and would like to urge them and others to continue to report on these complex and vitally important issues.”

The extension of the open reporting provisions to the remaining family courts in England and Wales will follow stepped arrangements, as in the pilot, starting with public law cases, then private law cases and finally magistrates.