News Essentials: 30th April 2022

A brief summary of the essential family law news and cases from the last two weeks: 

NEWS

Thousands of domestic abuse survivors denied help after legal aid cuts, study finds
Research calculates proportion of domestic abuse cases funded by legal aid has fallen from 75% to 47% in 10 years. Full story: The Guardian.

Appointment of 2 new members to Cafcass Board
Peter Fish and Catharine Seddon appointed as members of the Board of the Children’s and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass). Full story: Ministry of Justice.

New law raises minimum marriage age to 18 in England and Wales
The legal age of marriage and civil partnerships has been raised to 18 in England and Wales. Full story: BBC News.

NSPCC referred almost 62 children a day to agencies last year
The NSPCC has published new data regarding the usage of their NSPCC Helpline from 2021 to 2022. Full story: Family Law Week.

Ofsted research published into matching of children to children’s home places
Ofsted has recently published research and analysis into the matching of children to available placements in children's homes. Full story: Family Law Week.

Bundles guidance 'highlights litigant-in-person struggles'
Fresh guidance from the judiciary on electronic bundles highlights just how difficult it is for litigants in person to navigate the court system, the Law Society has said. Full story: Law Society Gazette.

Top judge rules applications for declarations of validity of existing placement and adoption orders not necessary despite widespread failure to comply with health assessment requirements
Applications for a declaration as to the validity of existing placement orders or adoption orders are “neither appropriate nor required”, the President of the Family Division has concluded, despite the widespread ignorance of and failure to comply with the health assessment requirements in the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005. Full story: Local Government Lawyer.

Notice from the Financial Remedies Court: Electronic Bundles
Clarification of the guidance on electronic bundle preparation for litigants-in-person. Full story: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary.

Court judgments made accessible to all at The National Archives
In a boost for open justice, court and tribunal judgments are now freely available from The National Archives. Full story: Ministry of Justice.

CASES

M (A Child : Private Law Children Proceedings: Case Management: Intimate Images) [2022] EWHC 986 (Fam) (29 April 2022)
Case management hearing prior to rehearing of fact finding hearing in private law proceedings concerning, in part, use of intimate images. Full report: Bailii.

Simon v Simon [2022] EWFC 35 (01 April 2022)
Directions judgment in financial remedy proceedings, in which litigation lender had successfully applied to set aside consent order which prevented them from recovering loan to wife. Full report: Bailii.