Draft Case Management Practice Direction published

The President of the Court of Protection, Sir James Munby, has issued an advance draft of a Practice Direction that is due to come into force in June when a case management pilot will commence.

It has been published in draft form now to "allow practitioners to prepare for a significant change in case management practice" and will apply to "all proceedings which are started (in accordance with rule 62) on
or after" a Date A which is yet to be confirmed 

The pilot scheme, which is expected to run for 12 months, sets out three case management pathways for CoP proceedings;

1. a Property and Affairs pathway,
2. a Health and Welfare pathway, and
3. a hybrid pathway for cases that have elements of both Property and Health.

and the pilot Practice Direction  will

"place an obligation on applicants to provide improved analysis of the issues at the start of a case, allowing for more robust case management decisions to be taken at the outset and all issues to be identified at the earliest opportunity in proceedings. It will also seek to encourage early resolution of cases, to reduce the number and length of hearings required in contested cases and to promote judicial continuity. "

It is still subject to amendment, in the light of comments from court users or any other reason. Any such comments should be sent to joanna.furlong@justice.gsi.gov.uk.

A separate pilot Practice Direction - 14E -  dealing with reports commissioned under section 49 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 will also commence in June and has also been published for information only.

You can download the new PDs from the Judiciary site here.