New guidance on measures to support domestic abuse victims at court

Special measures have long been available to help victims of domestic abuse attending court.  However the move towards remote and hybrid hearings as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic has posed new and unique problems in this area.  The Family Justice Council has now published a set of comprehensive guidelines to assist everyone involved in the family justice process to implement special measures in the new digital era. 

What are ‘special measures’?

Special measures are changes to the court process that can be requested by those attending a court building to participate in a case.  The most common measures aim to keep the parties separate from one another by way of different entrances and exists to the court separate waiting rooms and screens behind which they can give evidence without fear of intimidation by the other party. 

The new report aims to set out what can be done in place of the typical special measures to avoid remote and hybrid hearings being a harmful environment for victims of domestic abuse.  Remote hearings take place with all the parties online usually in separate locations whilst hybrid hearings take...

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