Background
In recent years a range of stakeholders have raised concerns regarding unregulated experts providing evidence in family law court cases and the standard of the evidence they provide. These experts often use the title of psychologist and may be instructed to give evidence or offer diagnoses which they are not qualified to undertake. In the case of Re C, the President of the Family Division highlighted the “need for due rigour” in the process of expert instruction and that regulation of the title psychologist was a “matter for parliament”. You can read our case update on Re C here.
Officials have decided that the most appropriate route to pursue these changes was via the Family Procedure Rules ('FPR').
Consultation on new FPR 25.5A
Condsequently, the Family Procedure Rule Committee is consulting on new FPR 25.5A concerning the instruction of unregulated experts. The consultation also includes amendments to FPR 25.2 and Practice Directions ('PDs') 25B and 25C. The aim of new FPR 25.5A is to require any expert instructed in family law children proceedings to be regulated. A key purpose of the changes is to ensure that any expert instructed in family law children proceedings has the appropriate skills and qualifications on which to base their expert evidence.
The proposed definition of 'regulated expert'
The proposed definition of a regulated expert is set out in the amendments to FPR 25.2 as:
(a) regulated by a UK statutory body; or
(b) on a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care; or
(c) regulated by an approved regulator under the Legal Services Act 2007.
This requirement would not apply to international social workers and the court would be able to give permission to any expert where there is no regulated expert available.
Consultation responses
The Committee has set out three consultation questions:
1. Are there any experts not accounted for in the current draft of the amendments who you feel should be considered? If yes, why do you think they should be considered?
2. Do you have any feedback on Rule 25.5A and the amendments to PD’s relating to the standards of experts, as currently drafted?
3. Are there any other comments you would wish to make regarding the instruction of unregulated experts?
The consultation is available here with responses due by 6 June 2025 at FPRCSecretariat@Justice.gov.uk. The EWI will be making a response to the Committee and would welcome the input of members at policy@ewi.org.uk.