The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (CTJ) has published updated remote participation guidance for the Civil and Family courts following a cross-jurisdictional review of the use of remote participation in proceedings to ensure there is proper consideration of access to justice and the interests of justice.
Two documents have been produced: Judicial Remote Participation Principles, aimed at promoting consistency and ensuring proper consideration of both access to justice and the interests of justice, and Overarching Guidance, which provides a high-level framework to support a more consistent approach to remote participation across the courts and tribunals.
The principles make clear that decisions about remote participation should not be based simply on available resources, while the guidance recognises that courts and tribunals will need to consider practical factors, including the resources available, when making decisions in individual cases.
Remote participation should not be used as a substitute for a properly functioning physical court estate, but equally, hearings that are suitable to take place remotely should not be prevented because of limited resources.
Using these documents as a foundation, the Civil and Family jurisdictions and each of the Tribunal jurisdictions have reviewed and refreshed their remote participation guidance. The updates to the guidance relate predominantly to format and terminology, creating greater standardisation and consistency across jurisdictions for the judiciary and users of the courts and tribunals.
View the guidance for remote hearings in the family jurisdiction as a PDF.
