Family Court Transparency Reporting: What It Means for London Families

If you are separating and the words family court transparency reporting have made you worry that your private life could end up in a newspaper, you are far from alone. It is one of the questions we hear most often from London parents, particularly those who work in professions where reputation matters. The reality is more reassuring than the headlines suggest, but the rules have genuinely changed, and it helps to understand where you stand before you decide how to resolve things.

This guide explains what the reporting rules actually allow, what happened in 2025 and 2026, why London families are slightly more exposed than families elsewhere, and how mediation sits entirely outside all of it.

What Does Family Court Transparency Reporting Actually Mean?

Family court hearings are held in private. Historically, an accredited journalist could sit in the room but was heavily restricted in what they could publish, which is where the phrase “secret courts” came from. Family court transparency reporting changed that balance without opening the doors to the public.

Where a transparency order is made, a reporter can now do three things they previously could not:

• Report what they see and hear: including the arguments made and the decision the judge reaches
• Request certain documents: such as position statements and case summaries, within the limits the judge sets
• Speak to and quote the people involved: so a parent can tell their story to a journalist if they wish

A transparency order works like an injunction. It binds the reporter, and breaching it can be contempt of court. The starting point is that children, parents and other family members must not be identified, while organisations such as a local authority, and some professionals, may be named. Only accredited journalists and legal bloggers, who are qualified lawyers, can apply. Members of the public, neighbours and family members still cannot sit in the back of the room.

How Did Family Court Transparency Reporting Reach Every London Court?

What began as a small pilot in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle in January 2023 is now the permanent national position, and the rollout finished in stages:

• 27 January 2025: public law children cases, where a local authority is involved, in all family courts
• 1 May 2025: private law children cases before judges, which is the category most separating parents fall into
• 29 September 2025: cases heard by magistrates, completing the rollout

The judiciary described the change as a watershed moment for family justice, and the Family Procedure Rule Committee made the necessary rule changes and issued new practice directions to underpin it. Every London court is covered, from the Central Family Court in Holborn to East London Family Court, West London Family Court, Croydon, Bromley and Barnet.

Does Family Court Transparency Reporting Cover Financial Cases Too?

Money cases sit on a separate track. Reporting in financial remedy proceedings, meaning the court process for dividing property, pensions and savings on divorce, is still governed by a pilot scheme rather than permanent rules. That pilot has been extended again, running from 30 January 2026 to 29 January 2027, with the stated intention of making it permanent after a consultation with stakeholders.

This matters most in London, where property values and pension pots are typically far higher than the national average, and where a case involving a business owner or a City professional is more likely to be considered newsworthy. If you are worried about financial detail becoming public, working things out through financial mediation in London avoids the hearing altogether, and we see this weighed carefully in higher value London divorces where privacy is a genuine concern.

Will a Journalist Really Turn Up at My Hearing?

Almost certainly not. There is a large gap between what the rules permit and what happens day to day. There are only a small number of accredited family court reporters and legal bloggers in England and Wales, and they cannot be in more than one place at a time. In financial cases, attendance has been so rare that only two or three instances were known to the judge leading the pilot.

London is the exception to watch. Most national newspapers, broadcasters and legal bloggers are based here, the Royal Courts of Justice and the Central Family Court hear the highest profile cases, and London courts are among the busiest in the country. If a reporter is going to attend anything, it is statistically more likely to be a London hearing. That said, the vast majority of London parents go through their case without a single journalist ever knowing it exists.

Can My Children Be Named in a Report?

No. The protection of children’s anonymity is the foundation the whole scheme is built on, and the judiciary has repeatedly pointed to the absence of known anonymity breaches as evidence that it is working. A transparency order will normally prohibit publishing the names of the children, the parents and wider family, their address, their school, and anything else that could identify them jigsaw fashion.

In a London borough where a school or a specific street could quickly narrow things down, judges tend to be particularly careful about identifying detail. The judge also keeps discretion throughout: they can refuse a transparency order where there is a proper reason, and they can vary the terms as a case develops. If you have a real concern, it can be raised with the court, and it can be helpful to get legal advice on how to put it.

Can Mediation Keep Your Case Out of the Reporting Rules Altogether?

Yes, and this is the part most people find genuinely reassuring. The reporting rules apply to court hearings. Mediation is not a court hearing. It happens in a private meeting room or on a video call between you, your former partner and an accredited mediator, and everything said in the room is confidential and legally privileged. There is no judge to make a transparency order and no reporter entitled to attend.

You can read more about how far that protection goes in our guide on whether family mediation is confidential, which covers the narrow exceptions such as safeguarding concerns. The same privacy applies whether you are sorting out child arrangements with a London mediator or dividing finances.

Privacy sits alongside the other reasons London families choose to resolve things this way. Mediation is usually quicker and less expensive than a contested court case, and given how long London family court cases are taking in 2026, the time saving alone is substantial. Our guide to choosing mediation instead of court sets out the comparison in more detail.

Should You Change Anything Because of the New Reporting Rules?

For most London families, the practical answer is no, but there are four things worth knowing:

• You will not be ambushed: if a reporter attends and asks for a transparency order, the parties are told and can make representations before the judge decides
• The restrictions on you have not been lifted: parents still cannot publish details of proceedings about their children on social media, and doing so can be contempt of court
• Anonymised judgments are more common: more family judgments are now published online, with names removed, which is a separate strand of the same transparency drive
• Out of court routes stay private: mediation, and any agreement you make legally binding afterwards, keep the detail between you

Before most court applications about children or finances you need to attend a MIAM, a short meeting with an accredited mediator to look at your options. Our MIAM guide for London explains what happens and how quickly you can be seen, and you can find full details of what we offer on our mediation services and prices page. Appointments are available at our central London office near Waterloo as well as online.

Frequently Asked Questions