Corporate report

Family Procedure Rules Committee annual report: April 2024 to March 2025

Updated 9 April 2026

1. Terms of Reference

The Family Procedure Rule Committee (‘the Committee’) was established in 2004 in accordance with the provisions of the Courts Act 2003. It is an Advisory Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice.

The Committee’s function is to make rules of court governing the practice and procedure in proceedings in the Family Division of the High Court and the family court. Its power to make the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (‘the Rules’) is to be exercised with a view to ensuring that the family justice system is accessible, fair and efficient and the rules are both simple and clearly expressed.

Before making rules of court, the Committee must meet and discuss proposed rules (unless it is inexpedient to do so) and consult such persons as it considers appropriate.

2. Background

The Committee is supported by a Secretariat provided by the Ministry of Justice.

3. Membership

The Committee comprised the following members during the period of this report:

• The Right Honourable Sir Andrew McFarlane – President of the Family Division
• The Honourable Mr Justice Keehan – High Court Judge (Chair)
• The Right Honourable Lord Justice Baker – Court of Appeal Judge
• The Honourable Mr Justice Robert Peel – High Court Judge
• Her Honour Judge Katherine Suh – Circuit Judge
• His Honour Judge Gareth Humphreys – Circuit Judge (appointed August 2024)
• District Judge Teresa Foss – District Judge
• District Judge William Nelson – District Judge (Magistrates’ Court) (appointed February 2024)
• District Judge Francis Cassidy– District Judge (County Court) (appointed January 2025)
• Jennifer Kingsley JP – Lay Magistrate (appointed February 2024)
• Helen Sewell – Legal Advisor (appointed September 2024)
• Poonam Bhari – Barrister
• Rhys Taylor – Barrister
• Graeme Fraser – Solicitor
• Laura Coyle – Solicitor
• Shabana Jaffar – Cafcass
• Robert Edwards – Cafcass Cymru
• Bill Turner – Lay member

Mrs Justice Knowles, who is the judicial lead for domestic abuse in the Family Division, is also invited to attend each meeting.

4. Remuneration

The chair and members are not remunerated for their service on the Committee.

Members of the Committee are permitted to submit claims to travel and subsistence expenses, which are paid by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

A Register of Member Interests for the April 2024 to March 2025 is also published alongside this report on the Committee’s website.

5. Meetings

The Committee met on 15 April 2024, 13 May 2024, 10 June 2024, 8 July 2024, 7 October 2024, 4 November 2024, 9 December 2024, 3 February 2025 and 3 March 2025.

The meeting on 4 November 2024 was held as an open meeting where external stakeholders, including members of the public, who expressed an interest attended as observers. 

With the exception of the annual open meeting (which was conducted remotely via Microsoft Teams), meetings are undertaken on a hybrid basis which meant that Committee members could choose to attend either in person at the Royal Courts of Justice or remotely via Microsoft Teams.

6. Working Groups

Where necessary the Committee establishes working groups to consider the detail of the rules relating to specific issues. Working groups are used to develop and test detailed proposals with MoJ Policy and legal officials before matters are returned to the Committee for further consideration.

Working groups may include non-Committee members where the Committee has agreed this would support the effective development of work.

During the period of this report, the following working groups were in existence and met at least once:

• Domestic Abuse Working Group (met four times)
• Express Financial Remedies Pilot Working Group (formerly known as the Fast Track Working Group) (met twenty-four times)
• Practice Direction 27A Review Working Group (met four times)
• Forms Working Group (met once)
• Private Family Law Early Resolution Working Group (met four times)

The Domestic Abuse Working Group was convened to consider work following the implementation of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. During this reporting period (April 2024 to March 2025), the Working Group considered workstreams relating to unregulated experts in family proceedings and the police disclosure and service of court documents at refuges. This included consulting on Practice Directions and Rule amendments in relation to the prohibition of cross-examination in person in family proceedings. The Working Group members are Mrs Justice Knowles, Her Honour Judge Suh, Shabana Jaffar, Jennifer Kingsley, District Judge Foss, Bill Turner and Poonam Bhari.

Express Financial Remedies Pilot (formerly known as the Fast Track Working Group) considered issues arising from the Farquhar Committee’s proposed new fast track procedure for certain financial remedy during the period of this report. The members of the Fast Track Working Group are Lord Justice Baker, Mr Justice Peel, Rhys Taylor, District Judge Foss, Samantha Hillas KC and Graeme Fraser.

PD 27A Review Working Group was created to review and modernise Practice Direction 27A, which sets out requirements for bundle preparation in family proceedings. Over the reporting period the Group considered the consultation responses received and commenced a phased review of the key issues required. Members include Graeme Fraser, Rhys Taylor, Jennifer Kingsley and Helen Sewell.

The Forms Working Group considers changes that need to be made to forms used in family proceedings. The members of the Forms Working Group are Mr Justice Keehan, District Judge Foss, Rhys Taylor, Graeme Fraser and MoJ policy officials.

The Private Family Law Early Resolution Working Group’s role is to strengthen early intervention and streamline private law proceedings, ensuring children and families get timely, appropriate support and reducing the burden on the court where alternatives are safe and suitable. The members of the Private Family Law Working Group are Mrs Justice Knowles, Her Honour Judge Suh, His Honour Judge Hess, Rhys Taylor, Graeme Fraser, Poonam Bhari, Caroline Bowden (Family Mediation C Mediator) and Karen Barham (Solicitor).

The following working groups were not active and did not meet during the reporting period:

• International Family Working Group
• Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Working Group
• Transparency Working Group
• Children’s Working Group
• Single Lawyer Model Working Group
• Permission to Appeal Working Group
• Enforcement Working Group
• Costs Working Group

The International Family Working Group - was established to support the Committee’s consideration of procedural issues arising in cross‑border family cases, including international child abduction, jurisdictional disputes, and the recognition and enforcement of overseas orders. The members are Mrs Justice Knowles, Mr Justice MacDonald, and Amy Rowe.

Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Working Group - was convened to support the Committee in overseeing the drafting of proposed new and amended procedure rules in relation to the DDSA 2020. The members of the Working Group are Her Honour Judge Roberts, District Judge Williams, District Judge Todd, His Honour Judge Waller, Gavin Smith, Oliver Gravell and Professor Liz Trinder.

The Transparency Working Group – was created to take forward the Committee’s work on improving the openness and accountability of family courts following growing calls from the media and other stakeholders. The members are the President of the Family Division, Lord Justice Baker and Her Honour Judge Suh.

Children’s Working Group – was formed to support the Committee’s work on ensuring the Family Procedure Rules and associated Practice Directions to properly reflect the needs and welfare of children involved in family proceedings. This Group only has one member – Mrs Justice Knowles.

Single Lawyer Model Working Group – was formed following discussions at the December 2022 FPRC meeting to consider whether families could be better supported by allowing one lawyer to act jointly for both parties in appropriate cases. Members include Mr Justice Peel, His Honour Judge Hess, Rhys Taylor, Alison Bull, Peter Newman, Harry Gates and Samantha Woodham.

Permission to Appeal Working Group – was established to examine the circumstances in which a judge of a specified level may determine that an application for permission to appeal, refused on the papers as without merit, should not be renewed at an oral hearing. This work concluded during the development of the Family Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2024, which implemented the resulting changes. The Working Group subsequently considered whether a formal permission to appeal stage should be introduced for appeals from decisions of magistrates in family court. Members include Lord Justice Baker, Poonam Bhari, Jennifer Kingsley and Dawn Millar.

The Enforcement Working Group considers the development of Rules and Practice Directions to give guidance on enforcement and provide a set of standard responses for use by the court. The members of the Enforcement Working Group are Lord Justice Baker, His Honour Judge Waller, Mr Justice Peel, Gavin Smith, Rhys Taylor, Graeme Fraser, and MoJ policy and legal officials.

The Costs Working Group - was convened to consider what changes needed to be made to encourage parties to consider costs at an earlier stage in financial remedy proceedings. This Working Group is made up of a mix of Committee members and external experts. During the period of this report, the members of the Costs Working Group included Mr Justice Peel, District Judge Foss, Elizabeth Darlington, Rhys Taylor, Peter Burgess and Master Jason Rowley.

7. Amendments to the Family Procedure Rules in 2024-25

During the period covered by this report, the Rules were amended by a statutory instrument. As with all amendments, these are made by the Committee and then formally allowed by the relevant minister at the Ministry of Justice on behalf of the Lord Chancellor.

The Family Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2024 came into force on 13 January 2025.

They made the following amendments to the Rules:

• provision for the service of documents on a person believed to reside in a refuge by inserting new procedural requirements to ensure safe and appropriate processes are used in such cases. These amendments introduce a mechanism to support situations where a party’s location must not be disclosed to another party, for safety reasons.
• Amended the appeals provisions in the Rules to add a nominated Circuit Judge as a further category of judge who may determine applications for permission to appeal without a hearing. Where an application for permission to appeal is certified without totally without merit, the amendments also provide that the applicant may not request that the decision be reconsidered at an oral hearing.
• The full statutory instrument and the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum can be accessed via this link - The Family Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2024

The Family Procedure (Amendment No.2) Rules 2024 came into force on 27 January 2025. They made the following amendments to the Rules:

• Introduced new rules (in Parts 12 and 14 of the Rules) to allow practice directions to be made governing the circumstances in which the court may give permission for the communication of information relating to family proceedings heard in private where those proceedings concern a child.
• These changes were made (with accompanying new Practice Directions) to create a clearer statutory framework to support transparency initiatives by providing an explicit mechanism through which the court may permit the controlled disclosure of information from child related proceedings heard in private.

• The full statutory instrument and the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum can be accessed via this link – The Family Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2024

• https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/44/made
• https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/61/rule/1/made

8. Practice Directions

The Rules are supplemented by a series of Practice Directions. Practice Directions, and amendments to them are made by the President of the Family Division and approved by a Minister on behalf of the Lord Chancellor. The views of the Committee are usually sought on any new Practice Directions and amendments to existing Practice Directions.

Practice Direction Updates Nos 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of 2024^{[footnote 1]} and Practice Direction Update No.1 of 2025^{[footnote 2]} were introduced within the period covered by this report:

Practice Direction Updates can be found on the ’what’s new’ page at:

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/family.

9. Consultations

The Committee may run consultations to seek the views of key stakeholders during their consideration of the rules of court governing the practice and procedure in family proceedings. During the period covered by this report, the Committee ran one public consultation:

9.1 Practice Direction 27A (Court Bundles).

The Committee launched a public consultation on a revised Practice Direction 27A which sets out the requirements for court bundles in family proceedings. The consultation sought views on the proposed new Practice Direction and invited comments from practitioners, judges and professional bodies. The consultation ran from 12 September 2024 to 21 October 2024 and the Committee received 50 detailed responses.

In addition to the public consultation the Committee also undertook several targeted consultations with relevant stakeholders during the reporting period. These consultations supported the Committee’s consideration of amendments relating to:

• service of documents on individuals residing in refuges
• changes to the permission to appeal process, and
• matters connected to pilot Practice Directions, including transparency orders.

10. Contact

Any enquiries about the work of the Committee may be addressed to:

Secretary to the Family Procedure Rule Committee
FPRCSecretariat@justice.gov.uk

1. practice-direction-update-no-7-of-2024.pdf ↩

2. Family Procedure Rules – Justice UK ↩