Family Public Law Service Mandation
On Monday 29 November 2021 the Family Public Law digital service will be mandated in your region.
As you are aware, we have identified your organisation as being in a position for the service to be mandated and have been in engagement and discussions with you to prepare for managing public law cases digitally. This follows joint work carried between our Judicial Working Group, the President of the Family Division, Designated Family Judges, regional implementation teams, delivery directors, local authorities and associated legal professional firms.
The decision to mandate the service also follows in-depth discussions between HMCTS, the President of the Family Division (PFD), Association of Directors of Children’s Services and MoJ policy teams about mandating.
What does this mean for me?
Local Authorities and legal firms will be required to manage and submit cases using the service digitally from beginning to end.
As a local authority, you will be required to complete and submit C110a applications for care and supervision orders digitally. You will also need to upload supporting documents required by the Family Court to the digital service. Certain applications from citizens and solicitors, such as ‘Order for Contact with a child in care’, will remain in paper form. This is because the system does not currently allow such users to submit these applications digitally. We will provide a full list of applications that still need to be submitted by paper to you.
We do not expect this to have significant impact on the way you are working now. This is because the majority of Local Authorities and Legal Professions you have already submitted and managed cases via the Family Public Law digital service.
In preparation for the service becoming mandatory, HHJ Singleton QC and HHJ Berkley have agreed that from Monday 25 October you may issue urgent applications on the portal.
Signing up to the service
- As you know, to begin using the service you will need to register your organisation with MyHMCTS. To register for the service, you will need to nominate an administrator to set the organisation up and manage the account.
- Please ensure that all users within your organisation are registered to allow them to have access to the service and manage cases.
- If you have any questions about setting up an account, please email [email protected]
- Once an account has been created, the administrator will be able to manage the account, add additional users and manage permissions.
Where can I find more information?
Guidance packs on how to use the digital service have already been provided as part of our engagement sessions. If you have not received a copy, please contact [email protected], the Regional Implementation Lead.
Check GOV.UK for information on applying for court for a family public law order and how to view and respond to an application.
Keeping in touch
We would like to hear your views and feedback on how we can continue to improve the service. You can contact us by emailing [email protected].
In addition, we would like to welcome you to join our forum for local authorities where you can share information, talk to your colleagues in other locations and share best practice. It’s a safe, confidential space, hosted by us so that we can also share with you the latest updates, and guides to the service. If you would like to join us on Basecamp (an online forum to support legal professionals using the service, including guidance packs and release notes) or for any other queries, please email [email protected].
Service Manager, HM Courts & Tribunals Service