The president of the Family Division, Sir Stephen Cobb, is holding a webinar on new guidance and materials designed to improve the management of short notice applications in public law family proceedings.
The webinar will provide an opportunity to understand the rationale behind the guidance, hear directly from those involved in its development, and explore how it will support more effective and efficient practice.
The President will be joined by four experts who contributed to development of the guidance, including Professor Karen Broadhurst from Lancaster University; Kaat De Backer, Midwife Research Fellow, and specialist perinatal mental health midwife; Laura Scale, Cafcass Cymru; and Stacey Coe, Senior strategic officer legal services (legal safeguarding and people) at Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.
The guidance and materials have been developed in response to concerns about the increasing use of urgent applications and in order to support “a more consistent, timely and proportionate approach to gatekeeping and case management”.
The information is intended to help ensure that parents and children’s guardians have time to respond more effectively to the application and that urgent judicial intervention is focused on cases that genuinely require it.
The guidance and accompanying materials have been produced by a cross-disciplinary working group representing organisations and professions from across the family justice system, including the judiciary, HMCTS, Cafcass, Cafcass Cymru, the Department for Education, local authority lawyers, the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, social workers and academics.
The resources reflect feedback received through a public consultation earlier this year.
The webinar will take place on Wednesday 4th November 2026, from 4.45pm to 5.45pm. Register to attend the event.
