Jo Miles is one of two academic members on the Family Justice Council's Financial Needs Working Group, chaired by Mrs Justice Roberts, to take forward a recommendation made by the Law Commission in its report on Matrimonial Property, Needs and Agreements, published in February 2014.
The Working Group's task has two limbs. The first is to produce a guide for litigants in person explaining how the courts approach financial provision on divorce. The second is to provide guidance for judiciary and practitioners aimed at promoting greater consistency and certainty in the exercise of the court's discretion in financial proceedings. The Ministry of Justice has requested that the Working Group submit a guide for litigants in person to ministers by November 2014, the guide for judiciary will be taken forward to a longer timetable yet to be finalised.