Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division, said there were ‘widespread reports’ of remote hearings ‘starting as early as 8am or commencing at 4.30pm’, when judges and family professionals are usually busy preparing, drafting, discussing and negotiating.
‘I am clear that this development, laudable though the reasons behind it plainly are, is not tenable in terms of the human resources and well-being of all concerned,’ he said in a statement responding to the government’s national lockdown announcement last week.
‘What is achievable in a sprint, is not sustainable in a marathon.’
He instructed that ‘judges should question professionals who are seen to have been sending messages at times outside acceptable hours. There should be no expectation that email traffic will be read and responded to in the evening, overnight or at weekends’.
Sir Andrew reiterated that all public law children cases are expected to be completed within 26 weeks.
To achieve this, there would ‘need to be a very radical reduction in the amount of time that the court affords each hearing. Parties appearing before the court should expect the issues to be limited only to this which it is necessary to determine to dispose of the case’.
