Tough new action to tackle violence against women and girls as government marks 16 Days of Activism
New measures designed to tackle online violence against women and girls are announced today at the start of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. The project, called Safe Online: Preventing Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and to be backed by more than £27m of UK-government funding, will help to support survivors of online […]
Safeguarding experts demand national action plan to tackle child sexual abuse
The report reveals that safeguarding agencies were not equipped with the skills and support to listen, hear and protect these children from horrific abuse. It recommends the government urgently puts in place a national action plan to protect and support children at risk. The independent review looked at 136 child safeguarding incidents – the most serious […]
Supreme court to rule on defining women in law in landmark case
The UK Supreme Court is set to deliberate on a case that could redefine how women are defined in law, following a challenge brought by the campaign group For Women Scotland, as reported by The BBC. The outcome could have far-reaching implications for legal interpretations of “sex” and gender, the operation of single-sex spaces, and […]
Pilot starts for Domestic Abuse Protection Orders
Providing vital protection to victims, for the first time all types of domestic abuse will be covered – including physical, psychological, stalking, and coercive control. The new Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Orders will also be handed out by all courts (family, civil, and criminal), meaning more perpetrators will be forced to live under restrictions. […]
Rise in single women and female couples seeking IVF in the UK, report shows
The number of single women and female couples undergoing fertility treatments, including in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and artificial insemination, has surged over the past decade, according to a report by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). Between 2012 and 2022, the number of single women accessing treatment rose from 1,400 to 4,800, while treatments for […]
CILEX Regulation publishes research on unregulated legal providers and calls for action to protect consumers
CILEx Regulation Ltd (CRL) has published research into the activity of the unregulated legal services sector in the UK, and has called for a sector-wide discussion on how consumers can be best protected from unregulated providers. Whilst unregulated providers take a relatively small share of the total legal services market, the research found that the […]
Reform of the Law on Financial Claims on Separation and Divorce
The laws governing financial claims when a couple separate are complex and date back over 50 years. Many say they are ripe for reform. The last Conservative government agreed, as they asked the Law Commission to produce a scoping report (due next month) addressing areas for reform. So do the new Labour government; they have […]
Fertility Rates – what does the lowest birth rate on record mean in family law?
ONS recently revealed that fertility rates in England and Wales have dropped to their lowest since records began. On average, women had 1.44 children between 2022 and 2023, the culmination of a decade of gradually declining birth rates. Whilst birth rates decline, the average age of first time mothers has risen to an all-time high […]