Open consultation

Consultation on the standards required for expert witnesses: proposed Practice Direction changes

Published 14 March 2025

Applies to England and Wales

1. The Family Procedure Rule Committee (‘The Committee’) has been giving consideration to the standards required of an expert witness instructed in family law children proceedings.

Background of the issue

2. In recent years, parliamentarians, campaigners and the media have raised concerns regarding unregulated experts providing evidence in family court cases, and the standard of such evidence. These experts, often using the title psychologist 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 (‘The President’) delivered a judgment on the appeal of the instruction of an unregulated psychologist who gave evidence on the disputed concept of “parental alienation”. Within his judgment the President highlighted the “need for due rigour” in the process of expert instruction and that regulation of the title psychologist was a “matter for parliament”. Officials have considered various solutions to this issue and deemed that the most appropriate route was to pursue changes via the Family Procedure Rules (FPR).

3. In accordance with Rule 25.2(1) FPR ‘expert’ means a person who provides expert evidence for use in family proceedings.   FPR Rule 25 and PD 25A to D provide guidance on the instruction and role of experts in the Family Court. Before instructing an expert witness the court must give consideration to the requirements of FPR 25.5. PD 25B paragraph 4.1(b) requires an expert to comply with the Standards set out in its Annex. The Annex sets out 11 standards experts must comply with when involved in children proceedings in the family court. These standards include that where an expert’s professional practice is regulated, they are in possession of a current licence to practice.

4. If an expert’s profession is not subject to regulation by a UK statutory body, there is no requirement for that expert to join a professional association that oversees compliance with minimum qualification standards and continuous professional development. As a result, the current process allows for the instruction of unregulated experts whose lack of regulation does not provide parties a proper route to raise concerns over an experts conduct. This can lead to an uneven situation, where the standard of expert evidence varies depending on whether or not the expert instructed is subject to proper checks from a professional body.

5. The Committee discussed the issue and referred this work to the Domestic Abuse Working Group (‘The Working Group’).

6. Consideration was given to which proceedings should be included within the scope of this Rule change. Financial remedy proceedings may require the instruction of an expert who is unregulated due to their profession not being subject to statutory regulation, such as Pensions on Divorce experts. Including financial remedy proceedings within the Rule change could create obstacles for parties wishing to instruct legitimate experts who are unable to become regulated. For this reason, the proposed Rule changes only apply to family law children proceedings.

7. Changes are proposed to the Family Procedure Rules (‘FPR’) and the associated Practice Directions (‘PD’), to ensure that experts instructed in family law children proceedings have the relevant qualifications and oversight to provide an expert opinion. This consultation outlines the proposed FPR and PD changes to address this issue.

Changes to the rules

8. New FPR 25.5A sets out requirements for an expert witness be a ‘regulated expert’. The definition of ‘regulated expert’ is then included in FPR 25.2 to be an expert who is regulated by a UK statutory body, appears on a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) or is regulated by an approved regulator under the Legal Services Act 2007. At FPR 25.5A(3) the Rule sets out the exception for when no such expert is available. A further specific exemption is included at FPR 25.5A(2) for international social workers. Consideration was given to the instruction of experts from foreign jurisdictions, the exception at 25.5A(4)(a) allows for the court to instruct an expert who does not fit the definition of ‘regulated expert’, where the issue to which the expert evidence relates to may only be resolved with the expertise of an expert who is not regulated. This exception would allow for the instruction of an expert from a foreign country in these circumstances.

9. If permission to appoint an expert who is not regulated under FPR 25.5A (1) is granted, the court must give reasons for its decision under FPR 25.5A (5). FPR 25.5A is attached at Annex A for consideration.

10. Amendments have been proposed to the following Practice Directions:

a. Practice Direction 25B – amended at 5.1 to outline that an expert instructed must comply with FPR 25.5A. Amended at 6.2, 8.1 and 9.1 to require the expert to be asked to demonstrate their compliance with FPR 25.5A and provide proof of that compliance.

b. Practice Direction 25C - amended at 3.5 to require the party or parties to obtain proof of the proposed expert witnesses’ compliance with the new regulation in response to the preliminary questions. Amended at 3.10 to require confirmation that an expert falls within the definition included in 25.2 and where no such expert is available under FPR 25.5A(4), why no person is available.

11. The Practice Directions, with the proposed amendments tracked, are attached for consideration at Annex B.

12. The aims of these changes are to ensure that only experts with the relevant qualifications, experience and oversight are instructed in the family court. For an expert to be regulated by a UK statutory body, accredited by the Professional Standards Authority or is regulated by an approved regulator under the Legal Services Act 2007, they must comply with a set standard on education and conduct. This change will improve the consistency of the standard of expert evidence presented to the court. This change will also provide parties to proceedings a clear route to raise the concerns over the conduct of an expert.

13. FPR 25.5A would apply to all experts, including individually and jointly instructed experts, instructed in family law children proceedings under Section 13(1), (3) or (5) of the Children and Families Act 2014. FPR25.5A (3) allows for judicial discretion when instructing an expert when the circumstances outlined in FPR 25.5A(4) apply, this will prevent cases from being unable to proceed due to the inability to obtain the relevant expert for the issues in that case.  

Consultation questions

Question 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?

Question 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?

Question 3

Are there any other comments you would wish to make regarding the instruction of unregulated experts?

Thank you for taking the time to consider this information.

Please send your comments to Irynne Anderson at the address below by 5pm on Friday 6 June 2025.

Irynne Anderson
Family Justice Policy
Post Point 7.17
Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ

FPRCSecretariat@Justice.gov.uk