Regional press editors have been urged to give their reporters the freedom to make use of new relaxed restrictions around covering family courts.

A 12-month pilot scheme will give journalists working in three family court areas – Cardiff, Carlisle and Leeds – far greater access to hearings and documents related to cases.

As long as family members involved remain anonymised in their coverage, reporters in those cities will be entitled to see and quote from a variety of documents related to the cases and report what they see in a private family court hearing,

They will also be entitled to name the local authority involved and quote family members who want to go on the record about their case.

Following the 12-month trial period, it is hoped the pilot will be extended to other courts across the country.

Journalist Louise Tickle, who has long campaigned on the issue of transparency in family courts, wrote in a blog for The Bureau of Investigative Journalism: “Family court reporting will still be fiddly and sensitive and time consuming. It will still require painstaking care to ensure the rules are strictly observed and families’ anonymity is protected.

“But it won’t any longer, in these pilot courts at least, be banned by law – it will, instead, be possible.

“News editors will have far more reassurance that sending a journalist to court will result in a story that can be published, rather than one that could put them in court, in contempt and in the clink.

“The events of family courts are just as compelling as criminal trials. The public interest in scrutiny of state power is just as important.

“The fates of people whose futures are changed by judges’ decisions are due just as much attention by the media. And for anyone who wants to report as part of the pilot, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has created a guide on its website to help journalists understand and navigate the new rules.

“If this pilot is a success, it could be rolled out to other family courts across England and Wales. Whether it is a success depends on journalists going to court and sharpening their pencils.”

Gareth Davies, who works for TBIJ’s The Bureau Local project, also called for regional newsrooms to make use of the scheme.

Gareth, a former chief reporter on the Croydon Advertiser, wrote on Twitter: “There’s a big opportunity here for reporters to gain unprecedented insight into, and report on, these issues where it arguably matters most. But that will only happen if they have the opportunity to attend – and that’s far from given.

“Reporting from these three courts will remain complex and time-consuming. Family members will have to be anonymised. There will be no guarantee that a reporter sent to a hearing will come back with a story.

“These are significant barriers for local journalists. In a target-driven industry, many are largely desk-bound.

“When allowed to go out, the story must be pretty much guaranteed, and they’ll often be given several other tasks to justify the time spent no filing copy.

“So it’s no use someone like me telling local reporters near Cardiff, Carlisle or Leeds how they should go and sit in family court for days at a time. I’m sure many would love to but that’s not how most local newsrooms work.

“So instead I urge editors and news editors to find ways in which reporters can take part, not just to tell underreported stories, but for their own development as journalists and to help prove that that system as a whole must be more transparent.”