Transparency in the Family Court

There have been calls in recent years for greater transparency in the Family Court. In particular, the ability of the press and others such as legal bloggers to be able to report on family cases.

Between 2023 and 2025, a pilot scheme was run in about half of the family courts in England and Wales in order to implement changes to make it easier for certain reports to write about what they see and hear in court. This scheme continues to be extended – for example, by September 2025, most cases concerning children will be covered.

The measures that are being adopted include:

• A presumption that allows reporting of family cases subject to the judge’s discretion whether it is appropriate to report a particular case.
• Allowing parties to speak to the press/legal bloggers about details of children proceedings. Whilst the information given could not be published, the press/blogger would be able to attend and report on any hearings.  
• Allowing the press/legal bloggers to see documents which are necessary to understand the case. 
• A greater number of judgments to be published.

The aim of the changes is to provide greater transparency over how decisions in the Family Court are made.

What does this mean for me if I go to court?

Anyone contemplating issuing family proceedings should be aware that details of their case could be reported in the press and legal blogs and there is no automatic right to keep details of family cases private. Details that may be reported on include:

• The names of the parties although any children will continue to have the right to anonymity;
• Pictures of the parties;
• Descriptions of factual, evidential or legal issues including open proposals made from the parties;
• Quotations or information from documents filed in proceedings, oral evidence, submissions, comments of the court, the court judgment and order disposing of the proceedings excluding any protected financial information;
• A broad description of the types and amounts of the assets, liabilities, income and other financial resources of the parties, without identifying the actual items, where they are sited or by whom they are held;
• A broad description of the open proposals of the parties giving monetary values without identifying actual items.

Is there any way to avoid reporting of my case?

A judge may order that information should not be reported on. However, parties should expect that this will be the exception rather than the rule.

Ultimately resolving matters outside of court proceedings is the only way to guarantee a case is not reported. For those cases that cannot be resolved by agreement arbitration will have a huge advantage over court proceedings as the dispute can be determined privately without the press or legal bloggers attending. 

At Mills & Reeve we frequently use arbitration to help our clients resolve family and children disputes and a number of our specialist team are trained finance and children arbitrators.  

This blog was updated on 27 February 2025 to reflect changes in the law.