The Family Procedure Rule Committee (FPRC) established a judicially-led working group (the Costs Working Group) in November 2018 to undertake a review, and to engage in ‘blue sky thinking’ in relation to the functioning of the current costs regime in financial remedies cases, and, where appropriate, to make recommendations for reform of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010).
One key area concerned encouraging parties to engage reasonably and responsibly in...More
This is a joint public consultation by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission.
The Law Commissions are reviewing the law and regulation of surrogacy. Surrogacy is the practice of a woman (the "surrogate") agreeing to become pregnant, and deliver a baby, with the intention of handing him or her over shortly after birth to another set of parents (the "intended parents"), who will care for, and raise, the child.
For more information about this...More
Becoming a victim of crime is often a traumatic experience, which can have a profound and deeply personal impact on the victim. How people are treated immediately after a crime, and subsequently within the justice system, can make an important difference, not just in helping them play their part in seeing justice delivered, but in helping them to move on from what has happened.
Our justice system is highly respected around the world. We want to continue to build on this to...More
Progress update
The call for evidence has now closed and the panel are considering the vast amount of evidence gathered. They aim to publish their findings in the coming months.
A Progress Update can be found in the Related section of this page detailing the panel’s work to date and next steps.
Overview
On 21 May 2019 the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) announced a public call for evidence steered by a panel of experts from across family justice, to gather evidence...More
What is the Sentencing Council?
The Sentencing Council is the independent body responsible for developing sentencing guidelines which courts in England and Wales must follow when passing a sentence. The Council consults on proposed guidelines before they come into force and makes changes to the guidelines as a result of consultations.
What is this consultation about?
The Council has developed a draft guideline for courts to use when sentencing offenders with...More
A stillbirth is a tragedy which has a profound effect upon bereaved families. We are committed to ensuring that, wherever possible we do all we can to ensure that when such a tragedy occurs, lessons are learnt and changes made to prevent avoidable stillbirths in the future.
Our rates of stillbirth are the lowest on record but they are still higher than some other comparable countries, which have succeeded in bringing rates down even further. There is much to be proud of in...More
A stillbirth is a tragedy which has a profound effect upon bereaved families. We are committed to ensuring that, wherever possible we do all we can to ensure that when such a tragedy occurs, lessons are learnt and changes made to prevent avoidable stillbirths in the future.
Our rates of stillbirth are the lowest on record but they are still higher than some other comparable countries, which have succeeded in bringing rates down even further. There is much to be proud of in...More
This is a consultation on extending Fixed Recoverable Costs in civil cases in England and Wales, following Sir Rupert Jackson’s 2017 report.
Fixed Recoverable Costs (FRC) prescribe the amount of damages that can be claimed back from a losing party in civil litigation; they are a way of controlling the legal costs by giving certainty in advance (by reference to grids of costs).
The civil justice system in England and Wales has a ‘loser pays’ model, whereby the...More
What is the Sentencing Council?
The Sentencing Council is the independent body responsible for developing sentencing guidelines which courts in England and Wales must follow when passing a sentence. The Council consults on its proposed guidelines before they come into force and makes changes to the guidelines as a result of consultations.
What is this consultation about?
The Council is proposing to embed additional information into offence specific sentencing...More
The government is conducting a short, focused consultation to seek views on a revised medical reporting process for unrepresented claimants. As part of its whiplash reform programme, the government is making changes via the Civil Procedure Rules to increase the small claims track limit for road traffic accident (RTA) related personal injury claims to £5,000.
To support this change, a new IT Platform is being designed to enable unrepresented...More
This is a public consultation by the Law Commission for England and Wales.
Topic of this consultation:
This consultation paper reviews the Immigration Rules in order to identify the underlying causes of their complexity, and to identify principles under which they can be redrafted to make them simpler and more accessible.
It makes a number of preliminary proposals to pave the way for the introduction and maintenance of clear, comprehensible and logically...More
The Civil Procedure Rule Committee (“CPRC”) is responsible, under the provisions of the Civil Procedure Act 1997 (“the 1997 Act”), for making rules of court governing the practice and procedure to be followed in the High Court and the County Court, and to do so with a view to securing that the system of justice is accessible, fair, and efficient, and that the rules are both simple and simply expressed. In consequence the CPRC seeks to keep the Civil Procedure Rules and their...More
This survey accompanies the consultation on exercising the right to manage (“RTM”) being conducted by the Law Commission for England and Wales.
The purpose of this survey is to collect information on leaseholders' experiences of the current RTM process. This information will provide part of the evidence base we will use to make our final recommendations for reforming the law.
In our consultation paper we ask a number of policy questions about how the law on the RTM should be...More
This is a public consultation by the Law Commission of England and Wales.
The right to manage (“RTM”) was introduced to give leaseholders control over the management of their buildings. Leaseholders can set up an RTM company, which can then acquire the landlord’s management functions. Once the transfer occurs, the leaseholders become responsible for things such as collecting and managing the service charge and the upkeep of communal areas.
However, the current...More
This is a public consultation by the Law Commission for England and Wales.
Commonhold is an alternative form of property ownership which allows homeowners to own the freehold of their flats. Our commonhold project looks at aspects of the law of commonhold which may be preventing its uptake.
For more information about this project, click here .
We recommend that consultees read the consultation paper before responding...More
The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 , covering England and Wales, is designed to protect and empower people who may currently lack the mental capacity to make their own decisions about their care and treatment; or who have capacity but wish to make preparations for a time when they may lack capacity in the future. It applies to people aged 16 and over. This legislation covers a wide range of decisions and circumstances, providing a flexible framework to ensure that individuals are placed...More
This is a public consultation by the Law Commission for England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission.
We are reviewing the regulatory framework for the safe deployment of automated vehicles in the UK.
We recommend that consultees read the consultation paper before responding to the consultation. A shorter summary is also available.
You can read our preliminary consultation paper here .
You can read the summary of our...More
This call for evidence asks about people’s experiences of the 2014 reforms which regulate how enforcement agents (bailiffs) operate.
The government is conducting the second post-implementation review of regulations which were introduced in 2014 to regulate the operation of enforcement agents and the fees that they charge. The reforms implemented provisions in the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. This call for evidence will feed into that review. We are interested in hearing...More
The Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017 was passed to help families and others trying to cope with the effects of a disappearance of a loved one.
The Act creates a legal framework for those left behind to secure the appointment of a trusted person to use and look after the property and financial affairs of the person who is missing. The purpose of this consultation paper is to obtain views from the people, businesses and organisations, who will be most affected by the system, on...More
This is a public consultation by the Law Commission for England and Wales.
The project addresses the problem of shared and exclusive jurisdiction in the fields of discrimination and employment law. This has generated boundary issues between the courts and the Employment Tribunal System (the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeals Tribunal). The project also analyses the outdated and in some respects arbitrary limits on the Employment Tribunal’s jurisdiction in...More
This is a public consultation by the Law Commission for England and Wales.
What is this consultation about?
Leasehold enfranchisement law concerns those who own property on a long lease. The enfranchisement legislation gives these leaseholders several important rights:
the right to extend their lease;
the right to acquire the freehold of their house; and
the right to acquire (collectively) the freehold of...More
This leaseholder survey (link below) accompanies the main response form for the leasehold enfranchisement consultation that is being conducted by the Law Commission for England and Wales. That response form can be accessed at: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/law-commission/leasehold-homeownership
The purpose of this survey is to collect information on the range of different leases held by current and former leaseholders in England and Wales, and on leaseholders’ experiences of...More
The breakdown of a marriage is a difficult time for families. The decision to divorce is often a very painful one. Where children are involved, the effects in particular where there is ongoing conflict, can be profound.
Under current law in England and Wales, couples must either live apart for a substantial period of time before they may divorce, or else they must make allegations about their spouse’s conduct. This is sometimes perceived as showing that the other spouse is “at...More
The government is committed to introducing an Independent Public Advocate who will act for bereaved families after a public disaster and support them at inquests and inquiries.
This consultation sets out our proposals for the role of the Independent Public Advocate, exploring how they might best support bereaved families, and potentially others, to enable them to fully understand and engage in the investigation following a disaster. It seeks views on when the support of the...More
This is a public consultation by the Law Commission for England and Wales.
The law relating to signatures and other formal documentary requirements has a history spanning centuries. As far back as 1677, the Statute of Frauds required certain documents to be in writing and signed. It is still in force today. But the documents executed in today’s world are no longer the same as those used over 400 years ago. Individuals, consumers and businesses demand modern, convenient methods...More
This consultation brings forward proposals for allocating an additional £15 million of spending to the Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS). The AGFS is the fee scheme through which criminal defence advocates are paid for carrying out publicly funded work in the Crown Court.
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The Ministry of Justice is responsible for providing probation services in England and Wales. These are delivered via the public-sector National Probation Service and through contracts with Community Rehabilitation Companies.
This consultation seeks feedback on proposed changes to the structure and content of these services.
There will be a range of engagement activity planned throughout the consultation period: details can be found on GOV.UK.
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What is this consultation about?
The Sentencing Council is consulting on a draft General sentencing guideline for use where there is no offence specific guideline. A link to the draft guideline can be found here .
What is the Sentencing Council?
The Sentencing Council is the independent body responsible for developing sentencing guidelines for the courts to use when passing a sentence. The Council’s remit extends to allow consultation on the sentencing of offenders...More
An inquest is a distinct judicial process. It is a public hearing held to determine who the deceased was, and how, when and where they died. It can be a traumatic ordeal for the bereaved, both in hearing how their loved ones died and through the frustration in the search for answers.
However, that search to find out what happened is important in helping the bereaved to understand and make sense of their loss as well as ensuring that there is proper accountability.
As such,...More
The proposed changes in this consultation are from the Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) but the consultation is being undertaken by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
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