The Transparency Reporting Pilot is a new scheme which allows accredited journalists and legal bloggers to attend financial remedy cases and report on them.

From the 29th January 2024, the scheme is to be piloted in three Courts. These Courts include the Central Family Court, Birmingham and Leeds.

The reporter may attend any hearing, but they will not be allowed to attend the Financial Dispute Resolution appointments, which is a type of Judge led mediation, as their presence may hinder the settlement of a case.

If a reporter wishes to attend a hearing, a Transparency Order should be made. The Order will include what documents the reporter is permitted to look at, specifically it will be the preliminary documents that are contained within the Court bundle.

To those who are currently going through financial remedy proceedings, your names will now be on the public cause list within Courts. This means that the parties names will be contained within a list which is publicly displayed in the Court each day. If your proceedings are currently being heard in one of the three Courts listed above, a Legal Blogger may attend the hearing.

If a party does not wish for a reporter or legal blogger to be present during the hearing, the parties or their legal representation will have to challenge the Court. If considered appropriate, the Court can exercise its discretion not to grant permission for a reporter or legal blogger to attend the hearing.