Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Split Court of Appeal on necessity of fact-finding for risk assessment in care proceedings: impulsive versus premeditated harm—G (A Child) [2025] EWCA Civ 1044 (England and Wales)

Published on: 03 September 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert

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Article summary

G (A Child: Scope of Fact-finding) [2025] EWCA Civ 1044 What are the practical implications of this case?

The decision is notable because the Court of Appeal divided on whether fact-finding is needed to underpin a risk assessment when the potential seriousness of harm might extend to a child suffering fatal injuries, perhaps from a brief loss of self-control. Their Lordships parted company on the central issue of necessity: must the court resolve factual disputes, and would any findings materially alter the child’s care planning. The majority concluded it was not, since a risk assessment can accommodate a broad spectrum of outcomes from impulsive behaviour, up to and including fatal harm, even if that extreme possibility is not accepted and there are no findings to that effect. That may seem striking and somewhat counterintuitive, given the family court’s binary approach to contested facts. Accordingly, care planning did not depend on adjudicating the precise factual mechanism of harm. The assessment could still consider a range of impulsive scenarios and consequences realistically...

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