Social workers to face greater press and public scrutiny as more family courts open up

Journalists are to be allowed into 16 more family courts across England and Wales from today to report on care proceedings.

In an extension to a pilot begun a year ago in courts in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle, nearly half of the 43 family courts in England and Wales are now open to the press in a bid to increase transparency in the courts which have been described as “secretive”.

Journalists and legal bloggers will be able to report on hearings, including decisions made to take children into care, and also interview families afterwards.

While family members will remain anonymous - unless identification is permitted by a judge - reporters will be able to name local authorities, as well as directors of children’s services, lawyers, and court-appointed experts.

Individual social workers will not be named unless the court instructs otherwise.

The reforms follow a 2021 report by Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division, called Confidence and Confidentiality: Transparency in the Family Courts.

The second stage of the pilot will assess the impact of media coverage on the courts system and judges, on families and on the media.

McFarlane said it was a "huge step in the judiciary’s ongoing work to increase transparency and improve public confidence and understanding of the family justice system".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme he indicated an ambition to open up all 43 family courts in England and Wales to reporters, adding: "There is legitimate human interest to understand how life is lived in some families and also public interest in what is and isn’t abusive and what the court then does about it."

BASW has expressed support for the pilots believing it will improve public understanding of social work. However, it has called for safeguards to be put in place to prevent the risk of ‘jigsaw identification” of children and families.

Writing in PSW magazine before last January's initial pilot launch, Ray Jones, Emeritus Professor of Social Work at Kingston and St George's Universities, London, warned against the move. He said: “While sitting in court having to recount the very personal horrors they have experienced, there will be journalists taking their shorthand notes, raising the fear that this may now all be made known to their friends and community.”

Jones predicted that every day would become "open season for distressing and distorted, sensational and salacious reporting", and "skewed attacks by the right wing broadsheets and other media on local authorities, clinicians, social workers and experts" who he feared may be publicly identified.

He also warned of the the risk of people being indirectly identified:"The danger of 'jigsaw identification' is acknowledged where disparate and separate publicly and locally available information is pieced together to build the picture of children and families. Just naming the date of proceedings and in which court the proceedings were heard will easily allow (people) to work out who the reporting is about."

However, consultant social worker Serge Paul said the pilots will boost confidence in the profession. He said: “It is essential that information is disseminated that shows and reassures the public that the process attempts to do this… and to improve learning and practice.

“There are important stories to be told of cases where we succeeded or failed in restoring or helping create a positive platform for children, young people and their families.

“Ultimately no judicial system is sustainable in a democracy when we end up with secret courts. The public, as well as children and young people, must have some understanding of what family courts are about.”

Louise Tickle, a freelance journalist who specialises in family court reporting, said: “The expansion of the pilot to so many more courts is a welcome vote of confidence.

“Public interest reporting of these sensitive and complex cases is vital to understanding how state power is exercised behind closed doors, and with care and skill, can be done in considerable detail while ensuring that families are safely anonymised.”

Additional courts taking part in the pilot from 29 January are:

- North West: Liverpool, Manchester
- North East: West Yorkshire, Kingston-Upon-Hull
- Midlands: Nottingham, Stoke, Derby, Birmingham
- London: Central Family Court, East London, West London
- South West: Dorset, Truro
- South East: Luton, Guildford, Milton Keynes