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Family-court pilot extended in England and Wales

A family-court reporting pilot in England and Wales is to be extended to another 16 courts, in what the judiciary described as a ‘huge step’ for transparency in the family-justice system.

The pilot, which started at the family courts in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle at the end of January 2023, will be rolled out to more courts – including Liverpool, Dorset, and Milton Keynes – on 29 January.

The Law Society Gazette of England and Wales said that the pilot introduced the presumption that accredited media and legal bloggers could report on what they saw and heard during family-court cases, while adhering to strict rules of anonymity.

Judges in the courts under the pilot make transparency orders that set out what can and cannot be reported.

Transparency

The judiciary said that the ability to report “is being piloted to make sure it can be done safely and with minimum disruption to those involved in the cases, and the courts”.

Sir Andrew McFarlane (Family Division president) stated that the roll-out followed a “pioneering year of reporting from Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle”.

He added: “Extending the reporting pilot to family courts across the country is a huge step in the judiciary’s ongoing work to increase transparency and improve public confidence and understanding of the family-justice system.”