She succeeds Mr Justice Hayden from 13 February 2023

New guidance from the Vice President, Me Justice Hayden, following his judgment in ​Re A (Covert Medication, Closed Proceedings), [2022] EWCOP 44

Due to come into force 1st January 2023. The rules make changes to contempt proceedings and electronic service. The full explanatory note is set out below:

"EXPLANATORY NOTE
These Rules amend the Court of Protection Rules 2017 (S.I. 2017/1035) to substitute for Part 21 of those Rules a new Part 21, for the purpose of making provision for a consistent approach in relation to contempt proceedings having regard to the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (S.I. 1998/3132 – see Part 81 as substituted by S.I. 2020/747) and the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (S.I. 2010/2955 – see Part 37 as substituted by S.I. 2020/758).

These Rules also make minor amendments in rules 6.3 and 9.1 of the Court of Protection Rules 2017, principally to clarify the rules for electronic service and to make reference to a new practice direction supplementing the Rules."

Mr Justice Hayden, The Vice President of The Court of Protection, has issued new guidance on judges visiting P in SMT cases (Serious Medical Treatment). As he explains in the paragraph [1]   

"This short practical guidance is intended to provide, hopefully helpful, suggestions as to how the Court and practitioners might ensure that meetings between the Judge and P, during proceedings, are conducted most effectively and enhance the participation of P. Earlier guidance was issued on the 14th November 2016, by Charles J, as Vice President of the Court. That document was primarily directed towards Health and Welfare cases and provided some additional assistance to participation of P in Property and Affairs cases. It did not seek to address meetings between the Judge and P in Serious Medical Treatment (SMT) cases. In principle, there should be no reason why the approach in SMT cases should differ from other cases. This document is intended to supplement, not to replace the earlier guidance. As the two require to be read together, and for convenience of access, I propose to reissue the 2016 guidance. I would add only one caveat. Charles J did not and could not have anticipated the wholesale migration to video conferencing platforms that has characterised every aspect of professional and indeed private life in the last 20 months. His guidance should be read with these developments in mind."

It follows on the heels of the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Re AH in which The President suggested that new guidance was necessary. 

Read the guidance in full on Bailii