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Published: Tuesday, 12 January 2021 14:44

On 8th January, the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, issued "The Family Court and COVID-19 – the Road Ahead 2021".

As the Family Court moves from 2020 into 2021 and a new Lockdown it is timely to look, once again, at ‘the road ahead’. Unfortunately, the conditions for the next few weeks are such that it is all the more necessary to remind ourselves of lessons learned and to maximise our ability to work safely.

The message from the Lord Chief Justice issued on Tuesday 5 January makes it clear that the courts will continue to function during Lockdown 3, but that footfall in court buildings must be kept to a minimum. The default position will be to facilitate the remote attendance of all or some of those involved in hearings. As the government have made clear, the current lockdown is likely to endure for some weeks. Whilst there is a most welcome ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, in the form of mass vaccination, this ‘light’ is only likely to lead to a return to anything like normal working in the Family Court once the bulk of the population have been vaccinated, which may not be achieved for some time. We are thus facing not only a period of enhanced provision of remote hearings during Lockdown 3, but also a further, albeit more relaxed, period with a significant proportion of remote/hybrid hearings over the next six months before, we hope, getting back to normality.

Whilst the situation of total lockdown may be gradually relaxed, the need for stringent social distancing restrictions is likely to remain for many months to come. This document seeks to establish a broad framework for the Family Court by attempting to chart the road ahead over the next six months or more. It is an attempt to expedite things so that hearings are not pushed into the long grass too often and there are also some practical suggestions to keep things moving more smoothly.

You can download the road ahead document by clicking here. Please share your experience with us at admin@fnf.org.uk. We would appreciate using your anonymous case studies (generally no more than a side of A4) when talking with policy-makers.

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