Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Re P (A Child) [2023] EWCA Civ 215: guidance on adjournments after representatives withdraw and fair hearing principles in Children Act and Adoption proceedings (England and Wales)

Published on: 28 March 2023

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert

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Article summary

Re P (a child) (fair hearing) [2023] EWCA Civ 215, [2023] All ER (D) 11 (Mar) What are the practical implications of this case?

Practitioners should acquaint themselves with the principles articulated by Lord Justice Peter Jackson from para [42] onwards of this judgment, where the Court of Appeal set out how adjournment requests should be approached to ensure proceedings are ‘fair’. Those principles are liable to apply across proceedings under the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) and the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Where an adjournment is sought, para [46] confirms that fairness is the essential touchstone, and the weight to assign to any given proposition or other pertinent consideration is for the court’s judgement in the individual case. The propositions gathered at para [45] provide a non-exhaustive, yet very useful, suite of factors that a court may weigh when resolving such an application. Practitioners must also give close attention to the Court of Appeal’s remarks about the approach adopted by the mother’s second firm of solicitors in this matter, who were instructed after the substantive hearing but before...

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