Standard orders

Standard orders

Standard orders project

The President of the Family Division appointed a drafting group in 2013 under the leadership of Mostyn J to produce a comprehensive set of orders that it was intended would, in due course, become mandatory in the Family Court and the Family Division. The President's rationale behind the project was to avoid the time and money that is wasted in the process of drafting orders that could, and therefore should, be standardised. For details of the background and history of the standard orders project, see: Standard orders—general principles—History of the standard orders project

On 17 May 2023, Mr Justice Peel, the judge in charge of standard orders, announced that, with the authority of the President of the Family Division and following the review process and consultation period, the standard orders were updated to reflect changes in law, practice and procedure and to achieve consistency. See: LNB News 17/05/2023 88.

Updated house rules were also published by Peel J on 17 May 2023 to be read alongside the standard orders. The house rules set out:

•
the content of the orders, including recitals (paras 3–7)

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Latest Family News

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Family weekly highlights—14 August 2025

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Cafcass guidance on conflicting assessments in public law cases

The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) has published new guidance for local authorities and Cafcass for cases where the views of the children’s guardian (and therefore their independent advice to the court) and the assessment of a local authority social worker and/or the independent reviewing officer fundamentally differ on the final care plan or interim arrangements for a child. The guidance applies to all children in care and supervision order applications under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 and deprivation of liberty applications. The guidance sets out the process that should be followed at any point during proceedings where a divergence arises and should be completed before final recommendations are submitted to court. The guidance requires that a pre-final hearing meeting be convened to identify and document the points of difference for the court. It includes suggestions for structuring the pre-final hearing meeting, a template agenda and a template for sharing the agreed rationale with the court. The guidance is not intended to be used to agree a joint position, rather to make sure that recommendations to court include a clear explanation about why the children’s guardian, the local authority social worker and/or the independent reviewing officer have reached fundamentally different positions. The explanation must set out what the points of difference are so that the judge in the case can better understand these. It remains for the court to decide what is safe and in the best interests of the child.