A route to justice or a concern for clients? Alexandra Hirst weighs up the benefits & risks of the transparency pilot scheme
- The year-long transparency pilot scheme allows the press greater access to the family courts.
- The biggest challenge will be establishing what reporters can report, based on what they have heard and read at the hearings they attend.
- Clients may well be concerned about personal information being reported, which could inhibit and censor their evidence. However, the motivations behind the scheme are wholly positive.
The transparency pilot scheme has been in place in all financial remedy proceedings across the country since the end of January 2025, and it will run for a year.
Proponents of the scheme are seeking to improve the lack of public access to, and awareness of, what takes place in the family law courts and how judges come to decisions relating to children and families. There is a concern, following decisions in high-profile public law cases, that decisions are being made behind closed doors without a full understanding of the process and, therefore,
