Specific Issue Orders

What a Specific Issue Order Is and Who Can Apply

A specific issue order is one of the section 8 orders under the Children Act 1989. The Act defines it as an order giving directions for the purpose of determining a specific question which has arisen, or which may arise, in connection with any aspect of parental responsibility for a child.

Where more than one person has parental responsibility for a child, each may act alone and without the other in meeting it, except where a statute requires the consent of more than one person. Major decisions are treated differently: GOV.UK states that where more than one person has parental responsibility, everyone who has it must agree in writing to a major decision such as a move abroad, and that a change of a child's name needs the agreement of everyone with parental responsibility or a court order. Where that agreement is not there, the question is one for the court rather than for one parent acting alone.

A parent, a guardian or special guardian, anyone with parental responsibility under section 4A of the Act, and anyone named in a child arrangements order as a person the child lives with may apply for any section 8 order. Most other people, including relatives and step-parents without parental responsibility, need the court's permission. Grandparents and other relatives applying for contact covers that ground.

The court can make the order without any application, in family proceedings where a welfare question arises. Neither a specific issue order nor a prohibited steps order may be made to achieve a result that a child arrangements order could achieve, and for a child in the care of a local authority the only section 8 order available is a child arrangements order regulating with whom or when the child is to live, which care proceedings and social services covers.

Questions the Court Can Decide

The Act allows the court to determine a question connected with any aspect of parental responsibility, so the range is wide. GOV.UK gives examples: choosing and providing for the child's education, agreeing to medical treatment, and naming the child or agreeing to a change of name. The disputes that reach the family court include:

• which school the child should attend, or a move between schools
• a medical decision the parents cannot agree on
• a change of the child's surname
• permission to remove the child from the United Kingdom, where the trip or move is not covered by our pages below

Because it may not achieve a result a child arrangements order could achieve, a dispute about where a child lives or how much time the child spends with a parent belongs to that order.

A permanent move belongs to relocation with children within England and Wales and to international child relocation where the move is abroad, and a single trip belongs to taking a child abroad. Where a child arrangements order about living arrangements is in force, the Act requires the written consent of everyone with parental responsibility, or the leave of the court, before a new surname or removal from the United Kingdom. A removal of under one month by the person the child lives with is excepted.

The Legal Test the Court Applies

There is no separate test for this order. When a court determines any question about a child's upbringing the child's welfare is its paramount consideration, and the Act treats delay as likely to prejudice that welfare.

Where the application is opposed the court works through the welfare checklist: the child's ascertainable wishes and feelings, physical, emotional and educational needs, and the likely effect of any change. It also weighs age, sex, background and any relevant characteristic, any harm suffered or at risk, how capable each parent, and anyone else the court considers relevant, is of meeting the child's needs, and the range of powers open to the court.

The court also presumes, unless the contrary is shown, that the involvement of a parent who can be involved without putting the child at risk of harm will further the child's welfare. Where there is evidence before the court that involvement by a parent in any form would put the child at risk of harm, the presumption does not apply to that parent.

No order is made unless the court considers it better for the child than making no order at all. The order can include directions about how it is carried into effect, impose conditions and run for a specified period.

No section 8 order can be made for a child who has reached sixteen, other than to vary or discharge one, unless the circumstances are exceptional.

Evidence and Common Problems

A witness statement should state the question, set out each realistic option and explain the effect on this child. On schooling that means admission criteria and offer dates, travel, continuity with friends and siblings, and a fair account of the other proposal. On a medical question it means what the treating clinicians advise, in writing where possible.

In children proceedings no one may instruct an expert or put expert evidence before the court without permission, given only where the evidence is necessary to help the court resolve the proceedings justly. It weighs the impact on the child's welfare, the issues the evidence would go to and whether other evidence already covers them.

Common problems include:

• a general complaint about the other parent's parenting instead of one answerable question
• asking the court to decide something the parents have never tried to settle between themselves
• seeking a direction that in substance changes living arrangements or time with a parent
• raising allegations of harm for the first time at court rather than with the application

Where harm or domestic abuse is alleged, form C1A goes in with the application. The court must consider abuse at every stage. Allegations and fact-finding hearings covers that process, and a non-molestation order may better protect an adult. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 999, and the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is on 0808 2000 247.

How the Application Process Works

1. Attend a mediation information and assessment meeting. It is a legal requirement before applying to the family court unless a valid exemption applies, and MIAM advice explains what happens there.
2. Apply on form C100, stating the question you want determined, with form C1A if you allege harm, or form C2 where a case is already running. A fee is payable, and help with fees may be available: see the GOV.UK court fees page.
3. Gatekeeping and allocation: a gatekeeper allocates the case and can direct you to a mediator where an exemption was not validly claimed.
4. Safeguarding checks: Cafcass, or CAFCASS Cymru in Wales, screens the application and, if possible, speaks to each parent about safety by telephone. On an application of this kind the officer seeks information from the local authority and carries out police checks only where, in the officer's professional judgment, those checks are necessary, then reports to the court in a safeguarding letter.
5. First hearing: the court considers the safeguarding information, identifies what divides you and gives directions, which may include a welfare report under section 7 focused on the specific issue. What is said there is not privileged.
6. Evidence and decision: statements are filed, any permitted expert evidence is obtained and the court determines the question. The court can make a section 8 order at any stage, so an interim direction is possible where a deadline will not wait.
7. Afterwards: a section 8 order includes any order varying or discharging it, so anyone entitled to apply can ask the court to revisit the question where circumstances change.

Breach of this order is pursued as a contempt of court, and the unpaid work route under section 11J attaches to child arrangements orders, not to this one.

When Legal Advice Is Especially Important

Advice counts most where the question has a date on it. School offers and treatment decisions move whether or not the court has been asked, and an application that arrives late, or is drafted too widely, can fail. It counts too where the honest answer is a different application: time with a parent is not available by this route.

If an application has been made against you, the hearing is the moment to put the alternative: what the school offers and what the clinician advises. You can also ask for a narrower direction or conditions instead of the order as drafted. Where the wider arrangements need attention, varying a child arrangements order and enforcing a child arrangements order set out those routes. Where a relative is raising the child, special guardianship orders may fit better; where travel raises a status question our immigration solicitors advise separately.

How RakLAW Solicitors Can Help

RakLAW Solicitors is at 42 Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD, a short walk from Tower Bridge and near Tower Hill, London Bridge and Bermondsey stations. The firm was founded by solicitor Rakesh Prajapati and is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 8007405. Our family work is privately funded and we do not offer legal aid; how we charge is set out on our family law fees page.

We will tell you whether the court can give you what you want, reduce the dispute to a question it can answer, prepare the application and evidence, and represent you at the hearing. Where agreement is still realistic we say so: mediation and out of court options explains those routes, and the rest of this work sits under children matters. Book a free 15-minute consultation on 0203 345 2000 or through our contact page.