This practice direction supplements Part 30 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010

NOTE:  This Practice Direction refers to orders made under FPR rule 30.12A(2), and terms of orders made under FPR rule 30.12A(3).  Those references are correct.  Rule 30.12A itself, however, refers in paragraphs (3) and (4)(a) to an order under paragraph (1) of the rule, and in paragraph (4)(b) to the terms of an order under paragraph (2) of the rule.  Those references are incorrect and should respectively be to an order under paragraph (2), and the terms of an order under paragraph (3) of the rule.  The references in the rule are being corrected, but pending correction, they should be read as referring in paragraphs (3) and (4)(a) to an order under paragraph (2) of the rule, and in paragraph (4)(b) to the terms of an order under paragraph (3) of the rule.

Title	Paragraph No:
Introduction	Para.1
Standard order	Para.2
Documents to be provided to court reporters at the hearing of an appeal	Para.3

Introduction

1.1 This practice direction is made under rule 30.12A(4).  It provides for circumstances in which the appeal court will ordinarily make an order under rule 30.12A(2) and for the terms of the order under 30.12A(3) which the court will ordinarily make in such circumstances.

1.2 This practice direction applies to all hearings in appeals within the scope of rule 30.12A(1) from the family court to the High Court.

Standard order

2.1 Subject to paragraph 2.3, the appeal court will ordinarily (and so without any application being made)—

(a) make an order under rule 30.12A (3)(a) that the hearing of the appeal shall be in public; and

(b) in the same order, impose restrictions under rule 30.12A(3) in relation to the publication of information about the proceedings.

2.2 An order pursuant to paragraph 2.1 will ordinarily be in the terms of the standard order approved by the President of the Family Division and published on the judicial website at https://www.judiciary.uk/publication-jurisdiction/family-2/ , using the variant appropriate to the nature of the proceedings.

2.3 In the case of an appeal against a decision or order made in proceedings for a financial remedy where no minor children are involved, the court will not normally impose restrictions under rule 30.12A(3).

2.4 The court may decide not to make an order pursuant to paragraph 2.1 if it appears to the court that there is good reason for not making the order, but will consider whether it would be appropriate instead to make an order (under rule 30.12A (2)(b) or (c))—

(a) for a part only of the hearing to be held in public; or

(b) excluding any persons, or class of persons from the hearing, or from such part of the hearing as is held in public.

2.5 In deciding whether there is good reason not to make an order pursuant to paragraph 2.1 and whether to make an order pursuant to paragraph 2.3 instead, the court will have regard in particular to—

(a) the need to protect any child or another person involved in the proceedings;

(b) the nature of the evidence in the proceedings;

(c) whether earlier hearings in the proceedings have taken place in private;

(d)  whether there is any risk of disruption to the hearing if there is general public access to it.

Documents to be provided to court reporters at the hearing of an appeal

3.1 The court will make available to the usher or other court official present in court two copies of the judgment under appeal for provision to accredited law reporters and accredited media reporters in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph.

3.2 Where a party is legally represented at the hearing of an appeal, the legal representative must bring to the hearing two additional copies of the party’s skeleton argument (including any supplementary skeleton argument) for provision to accredited law reporters and accredited media reporters in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph.

3.3 The additional copies of skeleton arguments must be supplied before the commencement of the hearing to the usher or other court official present in court.

3.4 The usher or other court official to whom the copies of the judgment and skeleton arguments are supplied under paragraphs 3.1 and 3.3 must provide one copy of each to an accredited law reporter (upon production of their Royal Courts of Justice security pass) and one copy of each to an accredited media reporter (upon production of their press pass), if so requested by them. Those copies are to be provided only for the purpose of reporting the court proceedings and on the basis that the recipients may remove them from the court and make further copies of them for distribution to other accredited reporters in court, again only for the purpose of reporting the court proceedings.

3.5 Any party may apply orally to the court at the commencement of the hearing for a direction lifting or varying the obligations imposed by paragraph 3.4. Where a party intends to make such an application or is notified by another party of the intention to make one, the operation of paragraph 3.4 is suspended pending the ruling of the court.

3.6 In deciding whether to make a direction under paragraph 3.5, the court must take into account all the circumstances of the case and have regard in particular to—

(a) the interests of justice;

(b) the public interest;

(c) the protection of the interests of any child, vulnerable adult or protected party;

(d) the protection of the identity of any person intended to be protected by an order or direction relating to anonymity; and

(e) the nature of any private or confidential information (including information relating to personal financial matters) in the document.

A direction may permit a skeleton argument to be supplied in redacted or anonymised form.

3.7 For the purposes of this paragraph, “the hearing of an appeal” includes a hearing listed as an application for permission to appeal with the appeal to follow immediately if permission is granted.

3.8 Paragraphs 3.1 to 3.7 apply to duly authorised lawyers who are attending court for journalistic, research or public legal educational purposes, in the same way as those paragraphs apply to accredited law reporters and accredited media reporters.

3.9 For the purposes of paragraph 3.4, a duly authorised lawyer is only to be provided with copies of the documents referred to in that paragraph upon production to the usher or other court official of a form of identification specified in paragraph 5A.2 of Practice Direction 27B.

3.10 In this Practice Direction, “duly authorised lawyer” has the same meaning as in rule 27.11.