Applications for Specific Issue Orders (SIOs), a type of private family court order used to resolve disputes between separated or divorced parents about their children’s upbringing, have more than doubled over the past decade, according to recent Ministry of Justice figures. The number of SIO applications rose by 133 percent, from 6,637 in 2015 to 14,831 last year.

SIOs, governed by the Children Act 1989, address disagreements on issues such as which school a child should attend, vaccination decisions, holiday arrangements, and specifics of how and where children are handed over between parents. Last year, just under 67 percent of SIO applications resulted in a court order.

Concerns have been raised about the increasing caseload burdening family courts with what some describe as “micro-management” disputes. In a 2020 judgment, Judge Stephen Wildblood pointed out how private law litigation was clogging court lists with high-conflict but often minor issues. He cited cases including one where parents asked the court to determine the exact junction of the M4 motorway for child handovers, another over possession of children’s passports despite both parents residing locally, and a third regarding contact timing on a Sunday afternoon.

Judge Wildblood advised parents to avoid bringing private disputes to court unless absolutely necessary, highlighting alternative resolution methods such as mediation. The average duration for private law cases involving children was 35 weeks in the first quarter of this year, a decrease of five weeks compared with the same period last year.

Family law practitioners have noted a rise in cases involving highly detailed disagreements. Isabella O’Donoghue, a lawyer at Hall Brown Family Law, described instances where parents, even those cohabiting temporarily while dividing their assets, sought court rulings on specific matters like school selection. She said judges in some cases explicitly discouraged what they termed micro-management of children’s lives through litigation.

Legal experts argue that prolonged court battles may not serve the best interests of children, potentially prolonging parental conflict and delaying final resolutions. The growing demand for SIOs has prompted calls for greater use of mediation and other dispute resolution methods to alleviate pressure on the family court system and reduce the adversarial nature of parenting disputes.