The Family Court (Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014

Composition: appeals heard by a judge of circuit judge level or a judge of High Court level

6.—(1) Subject to rule 7, when hearing an appeal from the decisions of persons referred to in paragraph (2) or the court referred to in paragraph (3), the family court shall be composed of—

(a) a judge of circuit judge level; or

(b) a judge of High Court level where there is a need for such a level of judge to hear the appeal to make most effective and efficient use of local judicial resource and the resource of the High Court bench.

(2) The persons referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a) a judge of district judge level;

(b) two or three lay justices;

(c) a lay justice; or

(d) a justices’ clerk or an assistant to a justices’ clerk.

(3) The court referred to in paragraph (1) is a magistrates’ court where an appeal is brought under section 111A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980(1) (appeals on ground of error of law in child support proceedings).

(1)

1980 c.43. Section 111A was inserted by S.I. 2009/871 and was amended by paragraph 52 of Schedule 9 to, and paragraph 50 of Schedule 10 to, the Crime and Courts Act 2013.