Authority’s Failure to comply with directions
The court considered the failure by the local authority applicant repeatedly to comply with court orders whils applying for care orders.
Held: ‘Case management directions are not mere administrative pedantry. The seemingly mundane nature of case management directions belies the fact that they are crucial to the fair administration of justice in a jurisdiction that has available to it arguably the most draconian power available to a court, namely the power to remove a child permanently from his or her birth family. Within this context, the the task of the case management judge is to arrange a trial that is fair by reference to domestic standards and Arts 6 and 8 of the ECHR (see Re TG (Care Proceedings: Case Management: Expert Evidence) [2013] 1 FLR 1250). It is because a care case involves the State intervening in the family life of its citizens that it is so important that the local authority comply with the case management directions made by the court, directions that are designed to ensure the fairness of proceedings the outcome of which can be grave. Further, case management directions are the key tool by which the court maintains fidelity to the statutory principle, embodied s 1(2) of the Children Act 1989, that delay must be avoided. Within this context, local authorities are under a heavy duty to comply fully with orders of the court.’
MacDonald J
[2016] EWHC 2627 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Children
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.570276
