Family Procedure Rules update – effective from 9th April

Marc Etherington joins the latest Today’s Family Lawyer Podcast to discuss the upcoming changes to the Family Procedure Rules which will further embed non-court dispute resolution (NCDR) in the family justice and courts services.

Marc, the Legal Director at Rayden Solicitors, and a member of Resolution’s National Committee, explains how The Family Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2023 (SI 2023/1324) will come into force in part on 8th April 2024 and partly on 29th April 2024. Describing the changes as a “gamechanger” Marc discusses the specific requirements of the amendments which it is hoped will encourage more disputes to be settled through NCDR going forward.

Host David Opie and Marc discuss the government’s approach to NCDR and mediation specifically. Despite rejecting proposals to make mediation mandatory, it has introduced a number of initiatives to encourage greater use of mediation including £170m committed in the Spring 2024 budget, the extension of the mediation voucher scheme, and the Pathfinder scheme trials in Wales an Dorset.

There is still a greater understanding of NCDR options required, suggests Marc and firms should encourage staff to undertake training to better understand how they can introduce these options to their clients.

On using NCDR as a way of easing the pressure on the courts system Marc says

“if you’re able to settle your case during the court process, at any stage before the judge makes a final decision, that probably highlighted that actually you could have resolved away from the court process in the first place. If you have a case that goes all the way to a final hearing and the judge makes a decision, no matter how hard you tried, they were never going to agree. “

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