1.4.2 Care and Supervision Proceedings and the Public Law Outline

1. Introduction

Under Section 31 Children Act 1989, a court may only make a Care Order or Supervision Order if it is satisfied that the Threshold Criteria have been met.

Under the Public Law Outline (2014) and the Children and Families Act 2014, there is a 26-week time limit for the completion of care and supervision proceedings. 'In no case can an extension beyond 26 weeks be authorised unless it is 'necessary' to enable the court to resolve the proceedings 'justly'. Only the imperative demands of justice – fair process – or of the child's welfare will suffice'. (Re-S (A Child) {2014} EWCC B44(Fam) (para 34).

(See also Section 7.3, Extensions to the Timetable for Proceedings).

This places an increased emphasis on pre-proceedings work and the quality of Assessments.

Where adoption is the permanence plan for the child and no Care Order has been made, combined care and Placement Order applications should be made, so that decisions can be made swiftly. Where there are on-going Care Proceedings, the Placement Order application should be submitted as soon as the Agency Decision Maker decision has been made. The court may make both orders, which would ensure that the child remains protected should the Placement Order be revoked (as the Care Order would automatically be reactivated).

Placement Order applications are not subject to the 26 week time limit, but an early application will ensure best use of court time and help keep to a minimum the overall length of the process. The application must clearly state why the parents cannot parent the child, what other realistic permanence options have been considered and rejected, and why adoption is the only permanence option that meets the needs of the child (see also Placement for Adoption Procedure).

The Children’s Social Care National Framework and Working Together to Safeguard Children both highlight the expectation for family networks to be engaged and empowered from an early stage. The voices of family networks should be prioritised through the use of family group decision making, wherever possible, and children’s services should consider offering these from the earliest point and throughout a referral.

See Family Networks and Family Group Decision Making Procedure.

2. Pre-Proceedings

2.1 Principles

Work done in the period pre-proceedings is vital for two reasons:

• It may divert a case along a route which avoids the need for proceedings;
• When that is not possible, and proceedings have to be commenced, the preparatory work will facilitate the smooth running of the case.

Pre-proceedings work includes:

• Early Help – see Threshold Document - Continuum of Help and Support;
• Assessments and meeting assessed needs (see Assessments Procedure). 

For cases which result in court proceedings, the information generated by the Assessment will be expected to form the central part of evidence that supports an application for a Care Order or Supervision Order, and will include, as appropriate, primary evidence from the agencies involved. Additional parenting capability assessments (where there is a specific need for specialist expertise in order for a decision to be made as to threshold and the need for proceedings) should be commissioned at the pre-proceedings stage.

The local authority should offer family group decision-making, such as family group conferences, to continue to explore potential placements within the family network and to clarify the realistic options available for the child. At pre-proceedings stage, successful family group decision-making also includes having an independent coordinator (Working Together to Safeguard Children) (NOTE: identification of carers should focus on the child's interests, not on parent's approval/disapproval).

• (see Kinship Care Policy and Applications for Special Guardianship Orders Procedure);
• Helping families to engage early - this engagement should include early, direct and clear written communication with the parents, setting out the local authority's specific concerns, outlining what needs to be done to address those concerns and indicating the possibility of proceedings if the situation does not improve within an identified timescale. It is important that throughout this period, the child (subject to their age and understanding) is kept aware of what is being proposed and that their views are heard. This may include by way of an Advocate for children and/or for parents where there are issues of Capacity, (see Capacity Guidance).
• Where pre-birth involvement is a result of the mother's learning difficulties causing uncertainty as to her ability to meet the needs of the child once born, the Court of Appeal in D (A Child) [2021] EWCA Civ 787 stressed the importance of effective planning during the pregnancy for the baby's arrival, and of taking adequate steps to ensure that the mother understands what is happening and is able to present her case.
  
  (See also the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership Procedures Manual, Children of Parents with Learning Disabilities Procedure);
• Legal Planning Meetings – see Legal Planning Meetings & Gateway Panel Procedure.

Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, set out in 'The Process of Reform: the revised PLO and the Local Authority' the expectations of the local authority in relation to pre-proceedings work. He recommended that:

• Local authority lawyers be involved, advising and assisting their social work clients, at an early stage;
• A properly organised Legal Planning Meeting is invaluable and can be the key to achieving timely outcomes to Care Proceedings;
• The employment of a local authority case manager is vital. The case manager works directly with social workers and managers, with the intention of improving the quality of social work Assessments and statements presented to court. The aim is that statements are purposeful, concise and clearly lay out the work that has been undertaken up to that point. The Case Manager works in a coaching role to help social workers produce high quality statements and to be explicit about the impact of delay on each individual child.

2.2 Legal Planning Meetings

Before a decision can be made to initiate Care or Supervision Proceedings, or PLO - Pre Proceedings, a Legal Planning Meeting should be held to test whether the threshold for significant harm is met.

The Legal Planning Meeting, a decision will be made in principle about whether the Threshold Criteria have been met. A Legal Gateway meeting will then be held, with a legal adviser present, to decide whether this threshold should be used to present the case to Court or whether the PLO process should be initiated with the aim of avoiding proceedings.

Information presented to a Child Protection Conference should inform the decision-making process but it is for the local authority to consider whether it should initiate proceedings.

If the decision is taken at the Legal Gateway Meeting to undertake a formal PLO - pre-proceedings or Initiate Proceedings, the local authority will send to the parents/those with Parental Responsibility (other parties as agreed) either:

• A Letter before Proceedings which states that proceedings are being contemplated; or
• A Letter of Issue which states that proceedings are being initiated.

Where a parent may lack Capacity, consideration should be given as whether personal discussion, involving an Advocate and/or legal representative, should be undertaken before the sending of such a letter.

In pre-birth cases, the timing of the sending of the pre-proceedings letter or letter of issue should take account of the risk of early birth and should ideally be sent by 24 weeks of pregnancy. Where the mother of the unborn baby has previous children removed CAFCASS PLUS should be considered, this is the involvement of the Family Court advisor in pre-birth pre proceedings. (See Section 3.1, Pre-Birth Planning and Proceedings)

2.3 Letter Before Proceedings / PLO Letter

The Letter Before Proceedings is the formal written notification that proceedings are likely. It should set out:

• A summary in simple language of the local authority's concerns;
• A summary of what support has already been provided to the parents;
• What the parents need to do and what support will be provided for them, to avoid proceedings, including timescales;
• Information on how to obtain legal advice and advocacy, making clear how important it is for the parent to seek legal representation.

The letter should invite the parents/others with Parental Responsibility to a pre-proceedings meeting (see Section 2.4 Pre-Proceedings Meeting below).

An up to date list of relevant solicitors in the local area who are specialists in child care cases should be sent with the pre-proceedings letter.

2.4 Pre-Proceedings / PLO Meeting

Where the PLO-pre proceedings process is being instigated parents/others with Parental Responsibility or considered appropriate to attend should be invited to a PLO/pre-proceedings meeting to agree proposals for addressing the current problems which have led to concerns about the welfare of the child.

At this meeting, the local authority should:

• Agree a revised plan for the child. Record the plan on the PLO Agenda template during the meeting. The PLO Agenda template should be signed by all parties and distributed to all attendees at the end of the meeting. The plan will set out what the parents and the local authority must do to safeguard the child. The plan will indicate the steps the local authority will take to support the parents and the timescales within which progress must be made for proceedings to be avoided;
• Outline the steps that the local authority will take at the end of this period, depending on whether progress has been demonstrated; and
• Review arrangements for identifying potential family carers, and/or for assessments with the parents, particularly where these require letters of instruction to assessment services.

Setting clear expectations and timescales for improvement will reduce the potential for delay. The child's plan should be reviewed within 6 weeks of the meeting to ensure that sufficient progress is being made.

3. Starting Care or Supervision Proceedings

The decision to initiate proceedings can be taken either at Legal Gateway Meeting or via a Strategic Manager if authorisation is required in an emergency.

Once the decision has been taken to initiate proceedings, the social worker will send the parents/those with Parental Responsibility a Letter of Immediate Issue which states that proceedings are being initiated.

Where appropriate an immediate issue meeting will be held.

The social worker and local authority solicitor will then prepare the documents that are required to be produced for Court. Documents will be quality assured by the Case Progression Manager.

In some cases, the level of concern about a child's welfare may require rapid and sometimes immediate recourse to the courts. There may not be time for a pre-proceedings meeting and the collation of all documentation prior to such an application. A lack of documentation should never prevent a case being brought to court quickly where this is essential to protect the child's welfare. Such cases should never be the norm, however, and where a particular piece of documentation cannot be supplied immediately, the authority must state on the application form the reasons why it cannot be included and confirm the date when the documents will be submitted to the court.

3.1 Pre-Birth Planning and Proceedings

Considering Care and Supervision Proceedings at a pre-birth stage and when a child is newly born remains challenging for a number of reasons.

A High Court judgment (Nottingham City Council v LW & Ors [2016] EWHC 11(Fam) (19 February 2016)) has sought to provide 'good practice steps' with respect to public law proceedings regarding newly born children and particularly where Children's Services are aware at a relatively early stage of the pregnancy.

From previous judgments it is established that: 'At an interim stage the removal of children from their parents is not to be sanctioned unless the child's safety requires interim protection.'

It continues to be important to ensure for both the child and the parent(s):

• Any hearing should be considered a 'fair hearing' commensurate with Article 6 of the Human Rights Act (the right to a fair trial);
• The fact that a hospital is prepared to keep a newborn baby is not a reason to delay making an application for an ICO, (the hospital may not detain a baby against the wishes of a parent/s with PR and the capability of a maternity unit to accommodate a healthy child can change within hours and is dependent upon demand);
• Where a Pre-birth Plan recommends an Application for an ICO to be made on the day of the birth, 'it is essential and best practice for this to occur'.

Once it has been determined that there is sufficient evidence to make an application for an ICO and removal of a child, any additional evidence (e.g. from the maternity unit) must not delay the issuing of proceedings. Any such information may be 'envisaged and/or provided subsequently'.

3.1.1 Good Practice Steps

In all but, 'the most exceptional and unusual circumstances, local authorities must make applications for public law proceedings in respect of new born babies in a timely way and especially, where the circumstances require the removal of the child from its parent(s), within at most 5 days of the child's birth':

• The Pre-birth Plan should be rigorously adhered to by social work practitioners, managers and legal departments;
• A risk assessment of the parent(s) should be 'commenced immediately upon the social workers being made aware of the mother's pregnancy';
• The Assessment should be completed at the earliest opportunity before the expected delivery date;
• The Assessment should be updated to take into account relevant events pre - and post delivery where these events could affect an initial conclusion in respect of risk and care planning of the child;
• The Assessment should be disclosed upon initial completion to the parents and, if instructed, to their solicitor to give them opportunity to challenge the Care Plan and risk assessment;
• The Social Work Team should provide all relevant documentation (See Section 4, Documentation) necessary to the local authority Legal Adviser to issue proceedings and application for ICO:
  • Not less than 7 days before the expected date of delivery;
  • Legal Services must issue on the day of the birth and certainly no later than 24 hours after the birth (or the date on which the local authority is notified of the birth).
• Immediately on issue - or before - the local authority solicitor:
  • Should serve the applications and supporting evidence on the parents and, if instructed, their respective solicitors;
  • Should have sought an initial hearing date from the court, or the best estimate that its solicitors could have provided.

Management Guidance in Public Law Children Cases: March 2022 states that, save in the most exceptional of circumstances, a newborn baby should not be removed from its parents under Section 20 Children Act 1989.

3.1.2. Care Orders and Supervision Orders on a Care Plan of the Child Remaining at Home

The PLWG Best Practice Guidance: the Application and Case Management states that, whilst there may be good reason at the inception of care proceedings for a child to remain in the care of their parents and subject to an Interim Care Order pending the completion of assessments, there should be exceptional reasons for a court to make a final Care Order on the basis of a plan for the child to remain in the care of their parents. The Guidance makes clear that a Care Order must not be used as a vehicle for the provision of support and services. A means/route should be devised to provide these necessary support and services without the need to make a care order. Consideration should be given to the making of a Supervision Order, which may be an appropriate order to support the reunification of the family.

It should be considered to be rare in the extreme that the risks of significant harm to the child are judged to be sufficient to merit the making of a Care Order but that, nevertheless, the risks are judged as being capable of being managed with a Care Order being made in favour of the local authority with the child remaining in the care of the parents. A Care Order represents a serious intervention by the state in the life of the child and in the lives of the parents in terms of their respective ECHR, article 8 rights. This can only be justified if it is necessary and proportionate to the risks of harm of the child.

Public Law Working Group (PLWG) Recommendations to Achieve Best Practice in the Child Protection and Family Justice Systems: Supervision Orders ('the Guidance') aims to provide clear messages and sample tools to support best practice where children remain with, or return home to, their parents at the conclusion of care proceedings, and is specifically intended to support best practice where the court may consider making a Supervision Order. The Guidance is concerned with best practice when plans to support children and their parent(s) are being developed, considered by the court, put in place and reviewed.

The Guidance sets out six core best practice principles. These are:

1. Partnership and co-production with children and families

Plans to support children to remain at home or return home should be drawn up in partnership. They should be a co-production between children's services, children and family. Significant adults from the family and friends' network should be involved. How children will be involved, and their views reflected, in the process of co-production should always be carefully considered and agreed.

Family group conferences (or similar) will have a role to play. This includes:

1. Identifying the support available within the child's family and friends' network;
2. Understanding the help and services the child and family need to keep the child safe and well cared for;
3. Informing and shaping the final plan to support the child and family.

2. Multi-agency, multi-disciplinary working

The skills, knowledge and resources of a range of agencies and disciplinary and multi-agency working organisations will be central to:

• Developing an effective plan;
• Putting that plan into action;
• Informing robust review of progress.

Key agencies, organisations and services will often include: housing, health (e.g. GP, health visiting services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, substance misuse organisations), education (e.g. nursery, school) and where necessary, the police. Clear information should be available to the court and parties about:

• The structures and processes to be used to achieve this multidisciplinary and multi-agency working (and this should be included in the plan itself);
• How the family's insights and own plans for meeting the child's needs have informed and shaped multi-agency working and the plan to support the child to remain at/return home.

3. Clear, tailored plans, including to address ongoing risks, and the findings and conclusions of the court in care proceedings

A plan to support children to remain at home with their parents, or return home to them, should keep the child in focus. They should be tailored not formulaic. They should be written in plain language.

The ongoing risks the plan aims to address and the needs that will be met should be clearly set out. These should speak to the findings and conclusions of the court in the care proceedings. What needs to happen to address those risks and needs should be clear and specific.

Intended outcomes should be set out in plain terms. 'What will be better?' Outcomes should be timed and it should be clear how progress is to be monitored and measured. 'What is the deadline?'

The expectations and responsibilities of the local authority and the family should be specific. They should be updated as plans progress. 'What actions have been agreed to help achieve the outcomes? Who is responsible for progressing particular elements of the plan?'

Overall, content should reflect:

• That appropriate support from within the family and friends' network has been considered, identified and drawn on;
• A multi-agency approach to providing specific help and services to the child and their parent(s);
• Detailed information about forum, process and timescales for review which satisfy core principle 5 (formal, robust review);
• The core principle of accountability (core principle 6) has been addressed;
• The plan will be a 'live' document. It should therefore include space to record progress over time. 'How things are going' and confirm the current social worker and the date of the plan.

A template Supervision Order Plan is provided in Annex A of the Guidance.

4. Resource clarity

It is vital that there are resources in place to support the child and family under the plan drawn up. Before care proceedings conclude, the resource arrangements for each element of the plan should be confirmed and recorded. This includes all human, material and financial resources, including the funding of specific services and supports.

5. Formal, robust review

The framework used to review progress should be clearly detailed before review proceedings are concluded. The plan itself should include the following detail:

• The forum, processes and initial timescales for review and when the first review will take place;
• Who will chair the review process*;
• What parents should be able to expect from the review process;
• How parents will be actively involved and what support will be available to ensure they can participate effectively;
• How children's views will inform, and be reflected in, the review process in a manner which is consistent with their age and understanding;
• In line with core principle 1 (partnership and co-production with children and families), it should be clear how the arrangements address relevant social, cultural and health inequalities or differences as well as the details of any adjustments needed to address particular health needs or disabilities.

*The review process should be chaired by someone who is independent of the day-to-day conduct of the case or management oversight of it. It is expected that person will:

• Be a social worker or social work manager with substantial experience of reviewing plans for children and supporting development of revisions to plans;
• Have a good understanding of the legal and practice framework relevant to supervision orders and reunification (returning home from care to parents);
• Be skilled in promoting participation of, and co-production with, children and families. Examples may include an Independent Reviewing Officer, a social work manager from another team.

The Guidance sets out key features of a Supervision Order review process.

6. Accountability

The court and parties should have clear information about:

• How the details of plans and the outcomes of reviews will be shared and explained in an accessible way:
  1. To the parents and other significant adults; and
  2. To the child in a manner which is consistent with their age and understanding;
• How, and with whom, families can raise concerns about progress under the plan. This includes where there has been delay in providing services and support;
• What families should be able to expect by way of an initial timely response (once their concern has been raised);
• The approach to be taken if children's services have concerns about progress under the plan. This includes details of any specific processes that will be followed.

This information should all be clearly contained within the plan developed to support the child to remain at/return home. The arrangements for robust review (core principle 5) will be relevant. Details of where families can find information about the formal complaints process should be provided, though that should not be the principal way by which families are expected to raise concerns.

The guidance states that there is a clear expectation that the duration of the Supervision Order is proportionate. It should be for the period of time necessary to meet the identified aims. The duration of the Order should be carefully considered in each case. In some cases, transfer of a child's case to another local authority may be anticipated. There should be early discussion and cooperation between children's services departments about this. This should be with the court's approval.

Annex C to the Guidance provides an Example Children and Families Thinking Tool: Supervision Order Practice Principles.

4. Documentation

4.1 Local Authority Documentation

Documents to be filed with the Court

(Note that some courts may require electronic submissions. Your legal department will be able to advise). Contact LGSS Law – click here for contact details.

See General Guidance on Electronic Court Bundles.

The following documents must be attached to the application filed with the court on Day 1:

• The social work Chronology;
• The social work statement and Genogram - including any early identification of Connected Carers;
• Any current Assessment relating to the child and/or the family and friends of the child to which the social work statement refers and on which the local authority relies. Management Guidance in Public Law Children Cases: March 2022 provides that the local authority should also lodge an Assessment Plan, setting out assessments which have already been completed and a timetable for any other assessments, which fits into the overall timetable; this should include rigorous kinship assessments that are carried out during pre‐proceedings work in order they do not have to be undertaken once the application is issued;
• The Care Plan;
• Index of Checklist documents.

Documents to be served on the other parties (but not filed with the court)

On Day 2 the local authority must serve on the other parties (but must not file with the court unless expressly directed to do so) the application form and annex documents as set out above, together with the 'evidential checklist documents'. These are evidential and other documents which already exist on the local authority's files, including:

• Previous Court Orders (including foreign orders) and judgments/reasons;
• Any assessment materials relevant to the key issues, including capacity to litigate, Section 7 or Section 37 reports;
• Single, joint or inter-agency reports, such as health, education, Home Office and Immigration Tribunal documents.

Documents to be Disclosed on Request by any Party

• Decision-making records, including:
  • Records of key discussions with the family;
  • Key local authority minutes and records for the child;
  • Pre-existing Care Plans (e.g. Child in Need Plan, Looked After child plan and Child Protection Plan;
  • Letters before proceedings;
  • Any issued as to jurisdiction/international element should be flagged with the court.

Principles

The filing and service of documents must focus on what is relevant, central and key, rather than what is peripheral or historical. Local authority materials are expected to be succinct, focused on analysis rather than on history and narrative. Even if there has been local authority involvement with the family extending over many years, both the social work Chronology and the summary of the background circumstances as set out in the social work statement must be kept appropriately short, focusing on the key significant historical events and concerns and rigorously avoiding all unnecessary detail.

Documents must be recent - restricted to the most recent, limited to those from the last 2 years. Documents need not be served or listed if they are older than 2 years before issue of the proceedings, unless reliance is placed on them in the local authority's evidence.

Documents must be focused and succinct.

The social work chronology is a schedule containing:

• A succinct summary of the length of involvement of the local authority with the family and in particular with the child;
• A succinct summary of the significant dates and events in the child's life in chronological order, i.e. a running record up to the issue of the proceedings, providing such information under the following headings:
  1. Serial number;
  2. Date;
  3. Event-detail;
  4. Witness or document reference (where applicable).
• The Chronology should be no more than 10 sheets and sides of A4 text unless specifically directed by the court. See the Court Chronology Template;
• The social work statement should be no more than 25 sheets and sides of A4 text unless specifically directed by the court. (This is exclusive of exhibits). It is to be to the structure of the social work evidence template.

The local authority materials must be succinct, analytical and evidence-based. Assessment and analysis are crucial. They need to distinguish clearly between what is fact and what is professional evaluation, assessment, analysis and opinion, and between the general background and the specific matters relied on to establish 'threshold'.

Threshold Statement

'Threshold Statement' means a written outline by the legal representative of the local authority of the facts which the local authority will seek to establish by evidence or concession to satisfy the threshold criteria under s31(2) of the Children Act 1989, limited to no more than 2 pages.

Local Authority Case Summary

A document prepared by the local authority legal representative for each case management hearing in the prescribed form. Unless specifically directed by the court, it should be no more than 6 sheets and sides of A4 text.

Final Care Plan

It is important that the Care Plan records information which will help the child, parent or the child's carer understand why decisions have been or are being made.

It should set out:

• The information about the long term plan for the child, including timescales (the Permanence Plan);
• The arrangements to meet the child's needs in line with the child's developmental needs domain of the Assessment Framework (see Assessments Procedure, Principles for a Good Assessment):
  • Arrangements for promoting the child's health, detailing GP and other arrangements, particularly where there is a health condition that requires monitoring or treatment;
  • Early Years provision and education, detailing the PEP (identifying the resources and services that will meet the child's needs, together with any additional support that has been assessed as required);
  • Contact arrangements for the child with the parents and others who have Parental Responsibility, together with any other significant people the child has relationships with, (for example a sibling in another placement), detailing the frequency and any support required.
    Or, where no contact is sought, the reasons for this and why it is not in the child's best interest;
  • Details of any court orders sought, e.g. section 8; section 34; Placement Order, etc.
  • Details of any other local authority or voluntary body services and resources that are planned to be taken up by the child or their parent/carer and the reasons for this, together with who will be responsible for the arrangements. Also, to include possible future support the child may be entitled to, e.g. leaving care arrangements.
  • Details of the Placement Plan and why the placement was chosen and the way in which it will meet the child's needs;
  • The wishes and feelings of relevant people about the arrangements for the child;
  • The wishes and feelings of those people about any proposed changes to the Care Plan;
  • Details of the review of any arrangements made or required, including the name of the IRO and who, or which, agencies will be involved;
  • Identification of a contingency plan in the event that the Care Plan is not achieved.

The Care Plan will need to be signed by the practitioner completing it, together with the Nominated Officer who has responsibility for agreeing the resources to be made available.

The Care Plan should be no more than 10 sheets of A4 paper and sides, unless directed by the court.

4.2 Case Analysis

A written (or, if there is insufficient time, an oral) outline of the case from the perspective of the child's best interests prepared by the Children's Guardian or Welsh family proceedings officer for the CMH or FCMH (where one is necessary) and IRH or as otherwise directed by the court, incorporating an analysis of the key issues that need to be resolved in the case including:

• A threshold analysis;
• A case management analysis, highlighting any gaps in the evidence and additional assessments / actions required, including an analysis of the timetable for the proceedings, an analysis of the Timetable for the Child and the evidence which any party proposes is necessary to resolve the issues;
• An analysis of parenting capacity to meet the child's needs, including any gaps and whether these gaps can be bridged within the child's timescales;
• A child impact analysis, including:
  • An analysis of parenting capacity to meet the child's needs, including any gaps and whether these gaps can be bridged within the child's timescales;
  • An assessment of the impact on the child concerned of any harm that he or she suffered or was likely to suffer;
  • An analysis of the ascertainable wishes and feelings of the child and the impact on the welfare of the child of any application to adjourn a hearing or extend the timetable for the proceedings;
  • Interim Contact needs of the child.
• A contingent, early permanence analysis (by reference to a welfare and proportionality analysis) including:
  • An analysis of the proposed placements, whether by family member/family friend; adoption; or other long-term care;
  • The way in which the long-term plan for the upbringing of the child would meet the current and future needs of the child, (including needs arising out of that impact of any significant harm, or likelihood of it);
  • Contact framework;
  • Any additional support that the placement will require from partner agencies.
• Whether and if so what communication it is proposed there should be during the proceedings with the child by the court.

5. Flexible Powers of the Court

Although the Public Law Outline sets out a prescribed set of stages, it also provides for flexibility at any stage of the proceedings. Steps, which the court will ordinarily take at the various stages of the proceedings, may be taken at another stage if the circumstances of the case so merit.

The flexible powers of the court include the ability for the court to cancel or repeat a particular hearing, to give directions without a hearing including setting a date for the Final Hearing (or a period within which the final hearing will take place), or to take oral evidence at the Case Management Hearing, Further Case Management Hearing or Issues Resolution Hearing. Where it is anticipated that oral evidence may be required at the Case Management Hearing ('CMH'), Further Case Management Hearing ('FCMH') or Issues Resolution Hearing ('IRH'), the court must be notified well in advance and directions sought for the conduct of the hearing.

Where a party has requested an urgent hearing:

1. To enable the court to give immediate directions or orders to facilitate any case management issue which is to be considered at the CMH; or
2. To decide whether an ICO is necessary.

The court may list such a hearing at any appropriate time before the CMH and give directions for that hearing. It is anticipated that an urgent preliminary case management hearing will only be necessary to consider issues such as jurisdiction, parentage, party status, capacity to litigate, disclosure and whether there is, or should be, a request to a Central Authority or other competent authority in a foreign state or consular authority in England and Wales in an international case. It is not intended that any urgent hearing will delay the CMH.

It is expected that full case management will take place at the CMH. It follows that the parties must be prepared to deal with all relevant case management issues, as identified in Section 6, Case Management Hearing. A FCMH should only be directed where necessary and must not be regarded as a routine step in proceedings.

6. Case Management Hearing

A great emphasis is placed on the first hearing, which is renamed Case Management Hearing ('CMH') (previously Case Management Conference). It is vital that the first Case Management Hearing is effective in order to meet the 26-week deadline.

The first Case Management Hearing should take place not before Day 12 and not later than Day 18.

It is expected that full case management will take place at the Case Management Hearing. The parties must be prepared to deal with all relevant case management issues, as identified in Section 6, Case Management Hearing. A Further Case Management Hearing ('FCMH') should only be directed where necessary and must not be regarded as a routine step in proceedings.

The Case Management Hearing should be timetabled to give the parents a realistic opportunity to meet their lawyers and respond to threshold by the time of the hearing. The parent’s response must be a substantive response and not just a holding response. This is an important stage; if the parties do not respond adequately to the threshold, then the court should require them to attend in person to explain to the judge why they have failed to do so, and how any extension will fit into the timetable.

No other hearing should normally be listed after the CMH until the Issues Resolution Hearing Robust case management by the court is required at all stages. This will include, where necessary, regular ‘compliance’ hearings to deal with any failure by a party to meet dates. All parties will be expected to monitor compliance with the court timetable and, if needed, report any failures to the court.

(A View From the President’s Chambers: Relaunching the PLO (November 2022))

7. Final Hearing

Management Guidance in Public Law Children Cases: March 2022 provides that, save where there are clear reasons to the contrary, the final hearing should be a rolled‐up hearing to determine such factual/threshold issues that must necessarily be determined together with the final welfare decision.

No case should be timetabled for a final hearing without a fully completed witness template – to include allocation of time (not a time estimate) for cross‐examination of each witness.

At the IRH or Final Hearing the court is only required to evaluate and decide upon the following issues:

• Is the s 31 threshold criteria satisfied?
• If so, what are the ‘permanence provisions’ of the care plan; and
• What are the contact arrangements?
• By affording paramount consideration to the welfare of the child, what final order(s), if any, should be made.

The court is not required to consider any aspect of the care plan other than the permanence provisions.

(A View From the President’s Chambers: Relaunching the PLO (November 2022))

8. The Timetable for the Child and the Timetable for Proceedings

8.1 The Timetable for the Child

The Timetable for the Child is the timetable set by the court which takes into account dates which are important to the child's welfare and development.

The Timetable for the Proceedings is set having particular regard to the Timetable for the Child, and the Timetable for the Child needs to be reviewed regularly. Where adjustments are made to the Timetable for the Child, the Timetable for the Proceedings will have to be reviewed consistently with the aim of resolving the proceedings within 26 weeks or the period of time specified by the court. If proceedings can be resolved sooner than 26 weeks, then they should be.

In each public law case there will be 3 core hearings: Case Management Hearing; Issues Resolution Hearing and Final Hearing.

Management Guidance in Public Law Children Cases: March 2022 stressed the importance of every effort being made to ensure that each is effective, rather than being adjourned or repeated.

Examples of the dates the court will take into account when setting the Timetable for the Child are the dates of:

• Any Looked After Review;
• Any significant educational steps, including the child taking up a place at a new school and, where applicable, any review of a statement of the child's Special Educational Needs;
• Any health care steps, including assessment by a paediatrician or other specialist;
• Any review of local authority plans for the child, including any plans for permanence through adoption, Special Guardianship or placement with parents or relatives;
• Any change or proposed change of the child's placement, including where there is an application for Special Guardianship Order, (see Timetabling and timescale for full family and Friends Assessments, (Family Justice Council));
• Any significant change in the child's social or family circumstances; or
• Any timetable for the determination of an issue in a case with an international element.

Information about these significant steps in the child's life must be provided in the Application Form and the social work statement, and this information must be updated regularly, taking into account information received from others involved in the child's life such as the parties, members of the child's family, the person who is caring for the child, the children's guardian, the Independent Reviewing Officer, the child's key social worker and any Central Authority or competent authority in a foreign state or a consular authority in England and Wales in a case with an international element.

Where more than one child is the subject of the proceedings, the court should consider and will set a Timetable for the Child for each child. The children may not all have the same timetable, and the court will consider the appropriate progress of the proceedings in relation to each child.

Where there are parallel care proceedings and criminal proceedings against a person connected with the child for a serious offence against the child, linked directions hearings should where practicable take place as the case progresses. The timing of the proceedings in a linked care and criminal case should appear in the Timetable for the Child. The time limit of resolving the proceedings within 26 weeks applies unless a longer timetable has been set by the court in order to resolve the proceedings justly. In these proceedings, early disclosure and listing of hearings is necessary.

Management Guidance in Public Law Children Cases: March 2022 sets out that a detailed Gatekeeping Order and a comprehensive order from the CMH, which must set out a clear and fully timetabled route to the IRH, are key documents which will provide the roadmap for all subsequent orders to follow in order to prevent drift and lack of clear direction. In the Gatekeeping Order, the parents should be asked to nominate a certain number of family members or close friends to care for the children (maximum of 3 per parent or 4 per child). They should be told that only in really exceptional circumstances will they be allowed to later nominate anyone else. Parents to be expressly required to identify any family members for assessment at, or within a week of the CMH.

(A View From the President’s Chambers: Relaunching the PLO (November 2022))

8.2 The Timetable for the Proceedings

The court will draw up a Timetable for the Proceedings with a view to disposing of the application:

• Without delay; and
• In any event, within 26 weeks beginning with the day on which the application was issued.

The Court will have regard to:

• The impact which the timetable or any revised timetable would have on the welfare of the child; and
• The impact which the timetable or any revised timetable would have on the duration and conduct of the proceedings.

The Court will use the Timetable for the Child to assess the impact on the welfare of the child, and to draw up and revise the Timetable for the Proceedings.

A standard timetable and process is expected to be followed in respect of the giving of standard directions on issue and allocation and other matters which should be carried out by the Court on issue, including setting and giving directions for the Case Management Hearing.

8.3 Extensions to the Timetable for Proceedings

Having regard to the circumstances of the particular case, the Court may consider that it is necessary to extend the time by which the proceedings are to be resolved beyond 26 weeks, but may do so only if it considers that the extension is necessary to enable it to resolve the proceedings justly. This may be on application or the court's own initiative. Extensions are not to be granted routinely and require specific justification. When deciding whether to extend the timetable, the court must have regard to the impact of any ensuing timetable revision on the welfare of the child.

Applications for an extension should, wherever possible, only be made so that they are considered at any hearing for which a date has been fixed or for which a date is about to be fixed. Where a date for a hearing has been fixed, a party who wishes to make an application at that hearing but does not have sufficient time to file an application notice should as soon as possible inform the court (if possible in writing) and, if possible, the other parties of the nature of the application and the reason for it. The party should then make the application orally at the hearing.

The reason(s) for extending a case should be recorded in writing in the Case Management Order and orally stated in court, so that all parties are aware of the reasons for delay in the case. The Case Management Order must contain a record of this information, as well as the impact of the court's decision on the welfare of the child.

An initial extension may be granted for up to 8 weeks (or less if directed). A further extension of up to eight weeks may be agreed by the court. There is no limit on the number of extensions that may be granted. If a further extension is granted, the Case Management Order should:

• State the reason(s) why it is necessary to have a further extension;
• Fix the date of the next effective hearing (which might be a period shorter than a further eight weeks); and
• Indicate whether it is appropriate for the next application for an extension of the timetable to be considered on paper. Extensions should generally be considered at a hearing – this can be by telephone or by any other method of direct oral communication.

9. Use of Experts

Rules and Practice Directions relating to expert evidence were put onto a statutory footing by Section 13 of the Children and Families Act 2014:

• The test for permission to put expert evidence before the court is that it should be 'necessary to assist the court to resolve the proceedings justly'. This test also applies to permission to instruct an expert and for a child to be examined or assessed for the purpose of the provision of expert evidence;
• There are specific factors which the court should give particular regard to when reaching a decision whether to give permission relating to expert evidence, including:
  • Any impact which giving permission would be likely to have on the child(ren);
  • The impact on the timetable and conduct of the proceedings;
  • The cost;
  • What other expert evidence is available (whether obtained before or after the start of the proceedings), and whether evidence could be given by another person, such as a social worker or the Children's Guardian.
• An application for permission to instruct an expert should state the questions which the expert is required to answer and the court will give directions approving the questions that are to be put to the expert.

Management Guidance in Public Law Children Cases: March 2022 states that the culture should be of judges (and guardians) trusting assessments made by the local authority, unless a reason not to do so is established. The social worker is likely to know the family better than an ISW or a psychologist and many such assessments add little or nothing to what the social worker can and should be able to tell the court. If such expert evidence is necessary, then the court order should limit any report to no more than 25 pages in 12 point typeface.

Decisions about commissioning such evidence should be made early in the proceedings, usually at the Case Management Hearing.

10. Expectations of the Local Authority by the Court

Timetabling and conduct of the case - throughout the proceedings, the local authority must comply with court directions made regarding the timetabling and conduct of the case and the delivery of additional information and any specialist reports or up-dated assessments relevant to the local authority's case which the court decides are necessary. This additional material should be delivered within the timeframes set by the court. Where compliance becomes problematic the local authority social worker must notify the legal representative as soon as a delay becomes apparent, and in advance of the deadline. This will enable the legal representative to notify the court and other case parties, and seek to an extension.

Both the local authority social worker and the legal representative should be in command of the essential evidence and equipped to present this clearly and confidently to the court. The social worker should also be clear on the degree of certainty in the conclusions they have drawn and have to hand the key facts and dates to support their judgements.

Where significant new factors or circumstances bearing on the case emerge late in the proceedings, the local authority (or the children's guardian or parent / legal representative) will draw these to the court's attention, sharing the information with other parties at the earliest opportunity and seeking to reach a common approach on handling before the next court hearing.

Interim placements - pending final decisions by the court, children's need for stability and security remains a priority and will be reflected in any interim Care Plans, including plans for contact, which the local authority puts forward to the court. The local authority should ensure appropriate, high quality and stable placements are provided, where necessary, while a child's future is decided.

Communication - it is essential that the social worker and the legal representative have regular contact during the course of the proceedings, and that the progress of the case is kept under constant review.

This will include discussion of any disclosure issues, which may need to be the subject of directions by the Court. Any correspondence received by the social worker from any other professional or expert during court proceedings, should be forwarded as soon as possible to the legal representative, together with detailed instructions for the reply.

The social worker must keep the local authority solicitor and Children's Guardian up to date with any changes in relation to the child during the proceedings, for example, placement, contact, school/education, health. Arrangements must not be made for any change to the child's placement without prior consultation with the Children's Guardian.

Recording - the Family Court, in the case of RE M and N (Children) (Local authority gathering, preserving and disclosing evidence) made clear the need for good practice in relation to note-taking and record-keeping, and disclosure of relevant evidence to all parties:

• Social workers/practitioners must make contemporaneous notes which form a coherent, contemporaneous record. The notes should be legible, signed and dated and record persons present during the meeting/conversation in question. The notes should be detailed and accurately attribute descriptions, actions and views etc. Sketches/diagrams may be helpful in establishing the veracity of explanations given, e.g. in relation to how injuries were sustained;
• Formal case-notes based upon these contemporaneous notes must be created as soon as possible in order to reduce the potential for inaccuracy/faulty recall as a result of delay. The original notes should be retained and be available to the court if required. Legal advice should be sought as to the need for disclosure of these notes to other parties in the case. If the notes constitute 'material evidence', then they must be disclosed;
• The local authority must ensure full disclosure of all material evidence to all relevant parties at the earliest opportunity. This includes ensuring that expert witnesses have had sight of one another's evidence – a full picture must be presented to the expert witnesses in the case.

Special Guardianship Orders - The Family Justice Council: Guidance on Special Guardianship reflected on:       

• The importance of the Pre-proceedings stage (see Section 2, Pre-Proceedings);
• The issue of delay - there are often tensions with the court 26 week timetable when seeking the best outcome for the permanent placement for the child, particularly with regard to potential applicants: for example, where 'a realistic family carer' emerges late in proceedings; where there has been limited or no contact between the applicant and the child and so the quality of this needs to be assessed; possible training needs for the special guardians; assessments of potential special guardians living in another country.
  
  It is expected a full assessment of potential special guardians will usually require a 3-month time scale and that a Special Guardianship Order may not be made for up to 12 months from the initial Application. However, decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis. (See also: Timetabling and timescale for full family and Friends Assessments, (Family Justice Council));
• Quality of special guardian reports - all assessments/suitability reports should comply with the schedule set out in regulation 21 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (as amended 2016). Where local authorities commission assessments from independent social workers, it is essential that there is clarity about the standard of the assessment commissioned before it is filed.
• The interim placement of the child - the identification of family members who, as a result of an initial assessment, are then considered as a prospective Special Guardian will raise a number of issues about the placement of the child in the interim. SGO assessments must be comprehensive and evidence-informed based on the lived experience of the identified family member(s) and the child.
  
  These issues will need to be addressed in the interim plan for the child. It must be considered that making an interim placement which does not develop into a long-term placement could have serious implications for the child. Special Guardianship plans should be robust and make provision for the support and services to be provided on the basis of an assessment of need, especially in relation to contact, in the short, medium and long term.
  
  Only in exceptional circumstances should a Supervision Order be make alongside a Special Guardianship Order (Management Guidance in Public Law Children Cases: March 2022).
  
  
• See also Applications for Special Guardianship Orders Procedure.