What is the Transparency Reporting Pilot, and why is it coming to our local courts.

Monday 29 January 2024 saw the Transparency Implementation Group Reporting Pilot extend to a further 16 Courts nationwide, including our local courts, Liverpool and Manchester. Initially, the extension of the Reporting Pilot will include only public law proceedings, and eventually include private law proceedings, as is the case within the initial Reporting Pilot locations; Leeds, Carlisle and Cardiff.

The Reporting Pilot comes, following one of the main recommendations from the President of the Family Division’s Transparency Review in October 2021. Within that Review at paragraph 35, the President said:

“My overall conclusion is that the time has come for accredited media representatives and legal bloggers to be able, not only to attend and observe family court hearings, but also to report publicly on what they see and hear. Reporting must be subject to very clear rules to maintain both the anonymity of the children and family members who are before the court, and confidentiality with respect of intimate details of their private lives. Openness and confidentiality are not irreconcilable, and each is achievable. The aim is to enhance public confidence significantly, whilst at the same time firmly protecting continued confidentiality.”

The aim of the Reporting Pilot is to ensure that such reporting can be done safely with minimum disruption to the people involved within the cases, and the Court.

The Reporting Pilot and the changes it makes.

The Reporting Pilot introduced a default position that accredited media and legal bloggers may attend and report upon family proceedings, subject to strict rules of anonymity. In those cases where accredited media representatives or legal bloggers wish to attend or report, the Judge shall consider a “Transparency Order” which sets out the rules of what information can and cannot be reported. There is a standard form of Transparency Order, but the Court may modify the terms of the standard order, dependant upon the facts of the case.

The standard Transparency Order will provide that the following must not be reported to the public, without the express permission of the Court:

1. The name of date of birth of any subject child in the case;
2. The name of any parent or family member who is a party or who is mentioned in the case, or whose name may lead to the child(ren) being identified;
3. The name of any person who is a party to, or intervening in, the proceedings;
4. The address of any child or family member;
5. The name or address of any foster carer;
6. The school/ hospital/ placement name or address, or any identifying features of a school of the child;
7. Photographs or images of the child, their parents, carer or any other identifying person, or any of the locations specified above in conjunction with other information relating to the proceedings. This includes photographs of the parents or other parties leaving the Court building;
8. The names of any medical professional who is or has been treating any of the children or family member;
9. In cases involving alleged sexual abuse, the details of such alleged abuse;
10. Any other information likely to identify the child as a subject child or former subject child.

Clearly, the Transparency Order is seeking to prevent the publication of any details that identifies, or may identify, the child(ren) or parties in the case.

The Court does have discretion to exclude reporters from a hearing, or indeed part of a hearing by virtue of FPR R 27.11(3), but only for specific reasons, and if so, should be recorded in the case management order. The default position however, is that accredited media and legal bloggers may attend and report upon family proceedings, subject to those strict rules of anonymity.

Why is the Reporting Pilot coming to our local Courts

There is a movement within the Family Courts to increase transparency and improve public confidence and understanding of the family justice system. The roll out to the additional 16 Courts follows the President commenting that the initial year of the Reporting Pilot in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle has been a “pioneering year” of reporting. Sir Andrew McFarlane continues, “We hope than in extending the pilot further we can continue to understand the impact that family court reporting has. I would like to urge the media to read the guidance and come to the family courts to see the vital and challenging work that is done there, and to report on the cases and issues that are so important.”

Whilst the professionals and lay parties within family law proceedings may be apprehensive about the reporting in the media of the most private aspects of an individual’s life, the clear intention is for anonymity to be upheld and the welfare of the child(ren) to continue to be protected. The continued expansion of the Reporting Pilot allows for the public at large to have the opportunity to see and understand, how the most important decisions regarding a child’s welfare are made. There is a clear balance to be struck between the media reporting a transparent picture as to the family justice system and how it operates within private Court hearings, whilst maintaining confidentiality for the people and children at the heart of the Family Court process.

Abigail King

Atlantic Chambers