Solicitors instruct social workers in the Family Court every week, and the process there has been polished by years of practice directions and case management. Immigration instructions are different. Part 25 of the Family Procedure Rules, which controls expert evidence in the Family Court, does not apply in the Tribunal, so there is no permission stage of that kind. There is no standard letter of instruction in common use, and no habit of expert case management. That freedom is useful, but it also produces the reports tribunals criticise. Here is how to get it right.
When a social work report actually helps
Three situations, mainly. First, when the case turns on care: who provides it, how much of it, and whether anyone else realistically could. Second, when the case turns on a child: best interests under section 55, or the individual impact of deportation on this particular child. Third, when the family's account needs independent testing before a judge hears it, because an account that has been examined by a professional and survived carries weight that an untested statement does not. If your case does not fit one of those, save your client the fee.
What to send
Everything. The Home Office bundle, the witness statements, and, critically, any Family Court material that exists. An expert who has not read the family proceedings cannot deal with them in the report. If there are papers you cannot release, say so in the instruction so the report can record what was and was not available.
What to ask for
Put the legal test in the letter. If the question is whether deportation would be unduly harsh on the children, say so, and the report can be structured around the scenarios the Tribunal has to consider. Vague instructions produce vague reports.
What a good report looks like
Twenty pages or fewer, because paragraph 9.2 of the First-tier Tribunal's Practice Direction says so and because discipline is a feature, not a limitation. A methodology section that says who was seen, where, for how long, and with what records. Analysis that distinguishes what the family says, what the records show, and what the expert observed. A range of opinion where the evidence supports more than one view. And declarations that mean something, from an expert whose duty is to the Tribunal and who has been cross-examined often enough to take that duty seriously.
Timescales and money
Give your expert the hearing date first and ask for the delivery date in writing. I work to ten working days from the papers, the booking payment and a date to see the family, or five working days in the urgent lane at the fee plus 50% where a slot is free. Aim to have the report served at least seven working days before the hearing, because under paragraph 7.14 of the Practice Direction, where evidence is provided later than five working days before the hearing, the judge must decide as a preliminary matter whether to admit it. Budget £1,450 to £2,450, fixed and all-inclusive, depending on whether the family needs to be seen at home and how many children are involved; be suspicious of much cheaper, because the difference is usually the testing. Agree the fee fixed, at instruction. With me, half of the fee is paid to book and the balance before the report is released. Payment up front is normal in this market and it protects both sides.