Written statement: Family Justice: Better Protections for Children - Oct 22

Justice Minister (Baroness Levitt): I am pleased to announce today that the Government will repeal the presumption of parental involvement when Parliamentary time allows.

Section 1(1) of the Children Act 1989 states that the child's welfare shall be the court's paramount consideration when determining questions relating to the upbringing of a child. The presumption of parental involvement was brought into legislation by the Children and Families Act 2014, which amended section 1 of the Children Act 1989. It states that, in certain private law proceedings relating to a child, the court should presume that involvement of a parent will further a child's welfare, unless there is evidence to the contrary. It does not apply in cases in which there is evidence that the involvement of a parent places the child at risk of suffering harm.

Although the legislation explicitly states that the presumption is rebuttable and that it does not apply in cases where a parent presents a risk of harm to the child, I recognise that it has faced criticism for appearing to reinforce a ‘pro-contact' culture that prioritises the involvement of both parents in a child's life over the child's individual welfare. The 2020 Ministry of Justice report Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Cases – known as the Harm Panel Report – includes substantial evidence demonstrating the existence of a ‘pro-contact' culture in the family court.

The Harm Panel also recommended that the Ministry of Justice undertake a review of the presumption of parental involvement. This review has now been completed and has been published today in full with its findings alongside this Written Ministerial Statement. One of the key findings of the review is that unsupervised and face-to-face involvement is the most likely outcome for child arrangements applications, including in cases which involve allegations or findings of domestic abuse or harm. Such decisions can be detrimental to child welfare. The presumption of parental involvement, whilst not the main driving force, was identified as one of a number of factors contributing to the pro-contact culture that drove these decisions.

The repeal of the presumption will form part of a package of family court reforms designed to better protect children in private law cases in the family courts. We know that abuse during childhood can have a serious impact on the rest of a child's life, and that children who experience abuse during childhood are more likely to drop out of education, enter the criminal justice system and suffer unemployment and poor health outcomes. We hope that this wider package of reforms – of which the repeal of the presumption will play a key part – will contribute to improved children's education and employment outcomes as well as reducing costs to the health and justice systems.

When coupled with other ongoing work to reform the family courts, we believe that repealing the presumption of parental involvement reflects our commitment to ensuring that the welfare of children remains paramount.