Monday hearings to be temporarily paused in Family Division of High Court

The Family Division of the High Court is to reserve Mondays for “urgent applications”, the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary has revealed.

The temporary arrangement, starting from next week (9 April), will allow for reforms to be implemented, training to be undertaken and “appropriate preparations” to be made by the Clerk of the Rules’ (CoR) Office for the week ahead, said the Judiciary.

Exceptions to the arrangement include the urgent applications list, the National Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLs) List, cases of five days or more that need to be continuously listed to include Mondays, and during the vacation periods.

Non-urgent hearings already listed for Mondays will still go ahead.

Last year a review of the operation of the CoR Office was undertaken at the joint request of the President of the Family Division and the Chief Executive of HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS).

The review recommended a number of key reforms be implemented to ensure the CoR Office provided “efficient and effective support” to the functioning of the Family Division. The judiciary revealed the reforms are “in the process of being implemented”.

HMCTS said: “This listing model will be implemented after the Easter vacation on 9 April 2024 until 30 April 2025, but the continuing need for this arrangement will be periodically reviewed and will conclude once it is no longer considered to be necessary for the efficient and effective support to the functioning of the Family Division.”

Lottie Winson