Courts and Tribunals Bill Removes the Presumption That Parental Contact Serves Children’s Welfare

The Courts and Tribunals Bill, introduced to Parliament on 25 February 2026, contains Clause 17, which repeals the presumption of parental involvement in section 1(2A) of the Children Act 1989. Since its insertion in 2014, that presumption has required the family court to proceed on the basis that the involvement of each parent in a child’s life furthers the child’s welfare, unless evidence indicates otherwise. The Ministry of Justice review published in October 2025 found that judges had become ‘intrinsically geared’ toward ordering contact with both parents even in proceedings where domestic abuse allegations or findings were present, and that the presumption was contributing to unsafe outcomes for children. With the bill now progressing through its committee stage following a second reading on 10 March 2026, repeal is widely expected to be enacted later this year.

For practitioners instructing psychology, psychiatry and neurology experts, the repeal will shift the evidential starting point in children proceedings significantly. Without the presumption as a baseline, courts will be required to work through the welfare checklist in section 1(3) of the Children Act 1989 from a neutral position, placing greater weight on expert evidence addressing parenting capacity, risk, and the psychological impact of abuse on the child and each parent. Demand for parenting capacity assessments, trauma-focused psychiatric evaluations and neurodevelopmental risk reports is therefore likely to increase, and the framing of expert instructions will need to reflect the welfare checklist directly rather than building around an assumed presumption of involvement. Practitioners should review their standard instructions now to ensure reports will engage with the post-repeal analytical framework

Source: House of Commons Library Research Briefing (CBP-10515), updated May 2026