Courses, tests and contact centres the court can direct in a children case

How long it takes, and what it would cost

On your own

An hour or so

With Wren

About 10 minutes

Solicitor for each order

£120 to £250half an hour to an hour

Times and hours are Wren’s estimates for a typical case, not quotes. Solicitor costs are those hours at £247 an hour, the courts’ guideline rate for a solicitor with over four years’ experience, outside London (GOV.UK, Solicitors' guideline hourly rates (in effect from 1 January 2026)). The guideline runs from £200 to £295 an hour outside London depending on experience, firms set their own rates, and VAT is added on top.

Why the court may direct a course or a check

During a children case, the court can direct steps that help it decide what is best for the child. Some steps also help arrangements work in practice.

The common ones are a parenting course, an activity direction, drug or alcohol testing and contact at a child contact centre. Each one appears in a court order.

Read your most recent order closely. It says what you must do, who arranges it, who pays and by when.

Planning Together for Children

Planning Together for Children is a course for separated parents. Cafcass runs it on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. It replaced the Separated Parents Information Programme, which you may still see called SPIP.

The court can order it, usually at the first hearing. A Cafcass Family Court Adviser can also refer you at any stage, if a risk assessment shows it is suitable.

There is no cost to you. You will never be in the same workshop as the other parent. In Wales the equivalent course is Working Together for Children, arranged through Cafcass Cymru.

1. You receive a welcome letter explaining how to set up an account on the Parent Hub.
2. Stage 1 is online learning of up to 2 hours. Cafcass says to complete it within 10 days of the welcome letter.
3. Stage 2 is a group workshop of about 2.5 hours, online or in person, with up to 6 parents.
4. Stage 3 is Our Child's Plan, an online parenting plan you can use to set out arrangements.

Activity directions

Section 11A of the Children Act 1989 lets the court make an activity direction. This requires a party to take part in an activity that helps a child's relationship with a parent or other person.

The law gives examples. These include programmes, classes, counselling or guidance sessions about parenting or violent behaviour. They also include sessions giving information about mediation.

An activity direction cannot require anyone to have a medical or psychiatric assessment or treatment. It cannot require anyone to take part in mediation itself.

Before making one, the court must be satisfied the activity is appropriate and the provider is suitable. The place must also be somewhere you can reasonably be expected to travel to. The court can ask Cafcass, or Cafcass Cymru in Wales, to monitor whether you take part and report back.

Domestic abuse perpetrator programmes

Where domestic abuse has happened, Practice Direction 12J says the court must consider whether a party should seek advice, treatment or another intervention. It can make that a precondition of a child arrangements order, with that party's consent.

The court can also make an activity direction for this. Practice Direction 12J says the intervention should be one commissioned and approved by Cafcass. Acceptance depends on the provider's suitability assessment, and completion takes time.

Cafcass says it no longer commissions or offers the Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme. Cafcass says the Ministry of Justice withdrew it in 2022. If an order or report in your case mentions an intervention, the Cafcass officer can explain what is currently available.

Drug and alcohol testing

The court may want evidence about drug or alcohol use. The Family Procedure Rules treat toxicology testing as expert evidence from a technical expert.

In children proceedings, nobody can instruct an expert or put expert evidence before the court without the court's permission. The court gives permission only if the evidence is necessary to resolve the proceedings justly. Judicial guidance for care cases names hair strand and blood tests as one category where the court may more readily find this.

The order should say who instructs the testing company and how the fee is split. Unless the court directs otherwise, parties who jointly instruct an expert are each liable for the whole fee.

An order for contact at a centre can also include a condition about testing. The judicial protocol's sample wording allows contact only after a negative breath test, with a named person providing the kit.

Child contact centres

A child contact centre is a neutral place where a child can spend time with a parent or other family member. The National Association of Child Contact Centres keeps a register of accredited centres on its website. The judicial protocol asks courts to refer families only to accredited centres.

1. Supported centres are usually run by trained volunteers. Several families share a space. Staff keep a watchful eye but do not monitor or report on contact.
2. Supervised centres are for families where there is a higher level of risk. A qualified worker stays within sight and sound of the child throughout.
3. Supervised contact services offer the same level of supervision somewhere else, such as a home or community setting.
4. Some centres offer supported or supervised contact by video.

How a contact centre referral works

If you have a preferred centre, the judicial protocol says the court should ask you to contact it before the hearing. This checks the referral is suitable and the centre has space.

The order usually says who makes the referral, by form or online, and by what date. It may also say who pays any centre charges and who sends the centre the order and the Cafcass safeguarding letter.

Every accredited centre holds a pre-visit assessment with each parent separately before contact starts. Centres are independent. The court cannot make a centre accept a family, and a centre can decline a referral.

Cafcass also runs Enabling Family Time, which replaced its earlier Improving Child and Family Arrangements service. It is only available when a Family Court Adviser refers your family. It is usually up to three free sessions of about 90 minutes.

Keeping a record that you took part

Keep the letters, emails and account details each provider sends you. Keep a dated note of each session or test you attend.

The Planning Together for Children Parent Hub records when you complete each stage. A supported contact centre can confirm attendance dates and times, but will not write reports. A supervised centre can be directed to send contact notes to the court and the parties.

If a test result or report is sent to you, keep your copy with your court papers. The court may ask about it at the next hearing.

If you do not attend

Cafcass says the court and your Family Court Adviser are told if a parent cannot or will not complete the course. If you do not attend when ordered, the court may order it again.

Where the court has asked Cafcass to monitor an activity direction, the officer must report any failure to take part.

At a contact centre, the sample order says both parties must follow the centre's rules and attend review meetings. Anyone delayed for a handover must tell the other party and the centre straight away.

If a child arrangements order is not followed, the court has enforcement powers. The guide on what happens after a child arrangements order explains them.

Key dates

1. Within 10 days of your welcome letterCafcass says to finish the online learning stage of Planning Together for Children.Source: official page ↗ (external source, opens in a new tab)
2. Within 7 days of the centre receiving the referralIn the judicial protocol's sample order, the centre confirms whether it accepts the referral.Source: official page ↗ (external source, opens in a new tab)
3. After three months at a contact centreThe judicial protocol expects a review of whether contact can move out of the centre.Source: official page ↗ (external source, opens in a new tab)
4. After the course or reportThe court may list a Dispute Resolution Appointment if this is likely to help.Source: PD12B paras 19.1-19.2 ↗ (external source, opens in a new tab)