CLS news

The President of the Family Division and the Ministry of Justice have been working together (in conjunction with other family justice agencies) to revise the ‘Practice Direction Guide to Case Management in Public Law Proceedings’.

This Practice Direction is more commonly known as the Public Law Outline, (the PLO).

The Practice Direction and new forms are now available on the HMCS website.

Revisions will come into force on 6 April 2010.

The PLO, introduced in April 2008, provided a simpler, more streamlined process designed to minimise unnecessary delay, with greater emphasis on case management and advocacy preparation in care and supervision proceedings.

A commitment was made to revisit the PLO, a year after it had been in operation to make necessary changes and improvements to address any specific areas of operational concern.

Work to revise the PLO has been led by the judiciary with input from an inter-agency group comprising:

• Ministry of Justice
• Association of Directors for Children’s Services
• Cafcass
• CAFACSS CYMRU
• Welsh Assembly Government.

In addition, an inter-agency Care Proceedings Implementation Steering Group (ISG) was tasked with reviewing the current PLO documentary requirements and recommending improvements.

The overall framework of the original PLO has not been affected by the changes. There are still the same four stages.

The same timescales also apply to the each stage as before.

The revision has focused on three key areas:

• reducing the burden of documentary requirements at issue
• clarifying the ‘Timetable for the Child’ principle
• improving the PLO forms

The revised PLO will streamline the documentary requirements on issue.

It also provides further guidance on the principle relating to the Timetable for the Child, and how this needs to work with the overall framework of the PLO and the timescales of the various stages within it.

In addition, the original PLO forms have also been streamlined and simplified.

More information

Please read the briefing document ('Revision of Public Law Outline guidance') on the guidance updates page of our website.

If you have any further questions, please contact the following people at the Ministry of Justice:

Sian Simpkins (020 330 4122)

Surinder Sawali (020 330 3142)

Joanna Furlong (020 330 3123)