His Honour Judge Clifford Bellamy
Designated Family Judge for Leicester
NEWSLETTER 3
The Dawn of a New Age
I am extremely grateful to those of you who were able to attend our local training event, The Dawn of a New Age, on 17th June. I am particularly grateful to Hannah Markham, Martin Kingerley and Kate Tompkins of 36 Bedford Row for leading the training so ably. Led (they may consider misled) by me, they had anticipated no more than 100 people attending. In the event, there were around 140 people present. The feedback forms indicate that the training was very helpful and was well-received.
The decision has already been taken that in the autumn there should be a further training event. Once the pilot Public Law Outline has been in force for a few months we should be able to evaluate how it is working locally. Sharing experiences should help us to improve both compliance and performance. Watch this space for details of the next training event. I hope that, once again, you will give it your full support. We will try to find a bigger venue where there will be a seat for everyone who comes!
In addition to the training event on 17th June, other training events will be taking place for different groups. On 21st JulyI was pleased to be able to take part in a training event for social workers, team managers, service managers, Cafcass officers and Independent Reviewing Officers. The local authorities will be holding training events over the course of the next few weeks. Training events are also being arranged for family justices. I will do my best to attend some of these events if possible.
The pilot Public Law Outline
The pilot Public Law Outline was published a few weeks ago. You should all now have received a copy. It is for each Designated Family Judge, in consultation with local authorities and Cafcass, to decide when to implement the pilot PLO in their area. I am grateful to the local authorities in our area for agreeing that we should implement the pilot PLO in Leicester with effect from 1st July. I do not underestimate the challenge this will present. We all have a steep learning curve. However, as I said in my last newsletter, the best way to learn how to conduct cases in accordance with the pilot PLO is by putting it into practice. We shall all make mistakes. Perfection is not expected – well, not at the beginning! The next nine months will give us opportunity to learn and ensure that we are well-prepared for the 1st April 2014.
The pilot PLO is silent about the timing of the IRH. Locally, the judges have decided that the IRH should normally be listed to take place during week 18 and at the latest by week 20. I have been assured that in those cases which do not settle at the IRH the court will be able to provide a date for a final hearing by week 26.
Recent progress
In my last newsletter I informed you that new care cases issued from 1st July will be allocated to the appropriate tier of court/judge (Circuit Judge, District Judge, District Judge (Magistrates Court), family justices) by a gatekeeping team comprising a District Judge and a Family Proceedings Court legal adviser. They will meet at 10.00am each day to allocate any new case issued by 4.00pm the previous day. To assist in the even flow of work Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council have agreed not to issue more than one non-urgent new case per day. Urgent cases will continue to be issued according to the needs of the case. I am extremely grateful to the local authorities for their co-operation. This is a good example of working together.
26 weeks
It is important that every new case gets off to a good start. The President has made the point that, “The key principle is very simple: the local authority must deliver its material – the right kind of material – on Day 1. If that does not happen, the entire timetable will be thrown out.” I agree. But the success of the new PLO in delivering outcomes within 26 weeks does not only depend on the performance of local authorities. It depends on the performance of all of us.
In the first two months of this financial year the average time taken to complete care cases in the county court was 43 weeks. We must not wait until April 2014 to improve the throughput of cases in our area so that we are completing the vast majority within 26 weeks. We have a long way to go.
Split hearings
We are all familiar with the obstacles to completing cases within 26 weeks – for example, inadequate pre-proceedings preparation, delay in obtaining disclosure of police and/or medical records, late identification by parents of possible kinship carers, late reporting by experts, illness of key people such as social worker, guardian, expert. I could go on! Another key obstacle to completing cases within 26 weeks is a direction for a finding of fact hearing.
In May 2010 the then President of the Family Division, Sir Nicholas Wall, issued guidance on split hearings. It can be found at [2010] 2 FPR 1897. It can also be found on the Family Law website at:
It begins:
“1. Over recent months and years it has become apparent to me that splithearings are: (1) taking place when they need not do so; and (2) are taking up a disproportionate amount of the court’s time and resources.
2. I have therefore decided to issue the following Guidance in an attempt toassist judges and magistrates who are invited to direct split hearings.”
The guidance bears re-reading in full.
At some point it is likely that this issue will be revisited by the Court of Appeal and/or by updated guidance from the President. Until then, I have some very clear views. Since I was appointed as Designated Family Judge for Leicester last August I have become concerned that applications for a direction for a finding of fact hearing are made too frequently. Practitioners seem to have lost sight of the criteria which may justify a direction for a finding of fact hearing. In the vast majority of cases a split hearing is both unnecessary and inappropriate. In the new era we are moving into, split hearings should become rare.
Making care cases smaller
Current experience is that in many care cases the volume of papers is substantial. To make matters worse, documents prepared for use in proceedings – witness statements and experts’ reports, for example – are longer than they need to be. Invariably the social work chronology runs to many pages; it is not unusual for them to run to thirty or more pages. The President’s view is that the social work chronology should not exceed three or four pages. I agree. It can be done. I have shown social workers how it can be done.
The initial social work statement also tends to be much longer than it needs to be. I do not underestimate the problem for social workers in having to decide which parts of their social work records need to be addressed in their initial social work statement. I understand the concern about omitting something that may be important. In future, using the template set out in the pilot PLO should help to reduce the length of statements whilst also making sure that all relevant information is included. From 1st July, using that template will be more than simply a good discipline. It will be a requirement.
If social workers are able to reduce the length of their chronologies and initial social work statements – and I am confident that with encouragement and support they can and will – that will give a clear message to parents’ solicitors that their statements, too, can be made shorter without any detriment to their case. Reducing the volume of paper is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. The end is improving the focus on the real issues in the case.
Filing documents
I take this opportunity to remind you that with effect from 1st July a local protocol will come into effect concerning the filing of documents. In case you haven’t already seen it I am attaching a copy to this newsletter.
Annual Conference
I have another date for your diaries. This year’s annual conference will take place on Friday 11th October at Leicester Tigers FC. The keynote speaker will be the President of the Family Division, Sir James Munby. So far as concerns the topic of his keynote address, he has been given a blank canvass. I think we can anticipate the areas he is likely to cover! Rather than hearing it from me, this is your chance to hear the up to date news from the very top. Don’t miss it!
LEICESTER DESIGNATED FAMILY CENTRE
The filing of documents in public law Children Act proceedings – local practice
- Documents filed at court in care proceedings should be accompanied by a covering letter stating clearly the name of the case, the court reference number and the date of the next hearing. The letter should describe the categories of documents being filed. Each category of document must be clearly identifiable by court staff.
- The volume of papers generated by an application for a care order is invariably substantial. It is not unusual for hearing bundles to run to several lever-arch files.Whilst the size of the hearing bundles may be necessary because of the number of complexity of the issues the court will be required to consider at final hearing, it is rarely necessary for the same volume of documentation to be ‘filed’ at court.
- The consequence of filing large amounts of documentation is that court files become disorganised and therefore unmanageable. One way of addressing that problem is for parties not to file documents that do not need to be on the court file.
- With effect from 1st July 2013 the court will not accept for filing the following categories of document:
(i)medical/hospital records;
(ii)material disclosed by the police;
(iii)historic local authority Children’s Services records;
(iv)contact records.
Any such documents lodged with the court will be returned immediately to the party lodging them.
- In future, although case management orders may require such documents to be disclosed to other parties such orders should NOT require them to be filed at court unless the judge has specifically agreed that there is good reason for them to be filed (in which case the order should make that expressly clear). The order may direct that parties must confirm to the court by e-mail that those documents have been served as directed.
His Honour Judge Clifford Bellamy
Designated Family Judge for Leicester 10th June 2013
1
July 2013