Court of Appeal Guidance on Challenging Expert Qualifications

In H (Children: Expertise of Witness) [2026] EWCA Civ 249, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal brought by a mother over care orders concerning her three children, in a case where the jointly instructed expert psychologist Graham Flatman was alleged to have acted outside the limits of his expertise. Three judges — Sir Andrew McFarlane, Lord Justice Lewison and Lord Justice Peter Jackson — ruled that when an expert’s qualifications are called into question, it is “almost always likely to be more appropriate to make an application to the Family Court than to bring an appeal”. The case also confirmed that disclosure of an ongoing HCPC complaint must be brought to the attention of the court and all parties at the time of instruction, not left to circulate only among legal representatives.

Source: Law Gazette, 20 March 2026