Secure accommodation and deprivation of liberty

Section 25 of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) (in England) and section 119 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (SSW(W)A 2014) (in Wales) restrict the ability of local authorities to place and keep children in secure accommodation. Secure accommodation orders are compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

See Practice Notes: Secure accommodation—general principles and Secure accommodation—procedure.

Without an order

Under ChA 1989, s 25 a child may be kept in secure accommodation without a court order for a maximum of 72 hours, whether or not consecutive, in any period of 28 days. Before doing so, the local authority must be satisfied that the statutory criteria are met and must consider the child's welfare—the welfare of the child will be a consideration of great importance, but is not paramount for the purposes of ChA 1989, s 25. The provisions of ChA 1989 (in England), and SSW(W)A 2014 (in Wales) also enable the local authority to act in order to protect the public from serious injury, even where inconsistent with promoting and

To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.

TAKE A FREE TRIAL

Latest Family News

HMCTS Family Public Law issues release notes

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Family Public Law (FPL) service has issued further release notes following user research commissioned on improvements to the Form C110a application journey. Release note 9 of 2025, directed at local authorities, or those issuing on behalf of local authorities, includes provision for the applicant section, which was previously over three pages, to be consolidated to two pages and the legal team manager and client code boxes have been removed and replaced with a text box for the person signing the statement of truth on the Form C110a. In addition, the notifications section has been streamlined to show the main contact first and the ability to add additional contacts who will be able to access the portal providing they are named within the organisation. A similar release note has been issued for solicitor users of the service (release note 10 of 2025), together with release note 11 for solicitors, which relates to solicitors who make a discharge of care/supervision application or a contact with a child in care application.

Assessment of the welfare of a competent child versus their wishes and feelings (S (through his litigation friend, James Alexander Netto) v F)

Family analysis: A 14-year-old child of Ghanaian-British parents was born in London and had always lived in England. In March 2024, the parents took the child to Ghana and enrolled him (without his knowledge) in a school there because they were concerned about his involvement with gangs and knives; the parents later left Ghana and returned to England. The child applied, through his solicitor, to make himself a ward of the High Court and for an order that he be returned to the jurisdiction of England and Wales. The court concluded that despite the child’s strongly expressed wish to return to England, his interests were best served by remaining in Ghana with a member of his wider family, away from the malign influences he had surrounded himself with, and remaining in contact with his father and English family by both video and visiting contact. Olivia Magennis, barrister at 1|GC Family Law, considers the issues.

Family weekly highlights—6 March 2025

This week's edition of Family weekly highlights includes the first Family Procedure Rules 2010 Practice Direction update of 2025, new guidance from the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, on the citation of authorities in relation to judgments of circuit judges and district judges and details of updated court fees in family proceedings. Analysis of recent judgments on the sharing of documents in financial remedy proceedings with non-attending reporters and on the assessment of the welfare of a competent child versus their wishes and feelings are also included, together with four new flowcharts on appeals.

Family Procedure Rules 2010 Practice Direction Update No 1 of 2025

The first Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010) Practice Direction (PD) update of 2025 has been issued, making amendments to five existing PDs and inserting one new pilot PD. A new FPR 2010, PD 36ZH (Pilot scheme: express financial remedy procedure) has been introduced for financial remedy cases where the parties’ total combined net assets are estimated to be under £250,000 (excluding pensions) and the application is made to a pilot court. The intention is to launch the pilot on 7 April 2025. The PD update makes provision for a permission application following an order under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989) to be made on a Form C100, or online equivalent (rather than requiring a Form C2 and a draft Form C100). The pathfinder pilot is amended to provide for the pathfinder model to operate in courts in West Yorkshire from 3 June 2025. FPR 2010, PD 36G, underpinning HM Courts and Tribunal Service’s online system to generate a Form C100 application, the mediation voucher scheme and the online private law proceedings pilots have all been extended to 31 March 2026.