The Court of Protection (Amendment) Rules 2025 (SI 2025 No. 866)

Changes to contempt of court procedures, amending the 2017 rules, come into force on 1st October.

The key points from the explanatory notes are set out below: 

• Rule 4 amends rule 21.4(2) of the 2017 Rules, which requires a committal application to give information to a defendant about their rights including their right to silence, to incorporate a requirement to warn the defendant of the risk of a court drawing adverse inferences from that silence if that right is exercised. This follows the decision in Inplayer Ltd. and another v. Thoroughgood [2014] EWCA Civ 1511 and aligns with the position in criminal proceedings.
• Rules 5 and 6 amend, respectively, rules 21.7 and 21.8 of the 2017 Rules, concerning hearings in contempt proceedings, in response to the decision in Esper v. NHS North West London ICB [2023] EWCOP 29.
• Rule 21.7 of the 2017 Rules is amended to require the court to consider, before the first hearing of any contempt proceedings, whether to make an order under rule 21.8(5) for the non-disclosure of the identity of the defendant in the court list. This is to prevent the utility of any subsequent non-disclosure order being undermined by the prior public notice of the identity of the defendant.
• Rule 21.8 is amended to provide that the court has a discretion to order the non-disclosure of the identity of any person during contempt proceedings, where certain criteria are satisfied. Currently, the rule mandates non-disclosure where those same criteria are satisfied, but only in respect of a party or witness to the contempt proceedings. Rule 21.8(11A) is inserted to clarify that the court’s discretion does not extend to restricting the disclosure of the identity of a defendant who has been convicted and sentenced to a committal order. An amendment to rule 21.8(13) clarifies that the judgment is transcribed and published solely where the court has made an order for committal.

Made: 10th July 2025
Laid before Parliament: 15th July 2025
Coming into force: 1st October 2025

Read the SI in full on the legislation.gov website