Mr Justice Hayden, Vice President of the Court of Protection,  has issued guidance on visits to Court. The guidance states that visits should only be made where that is assessed as absolutely necessary. Alternative arrangements should always be considered first, such as telephone FaceTime and Skype conferencing. Visits to care homes are strongly discouraged.

Mr Justice Hayden issued wider guidance on hearings. This includes:

• that hearings of less than 2 hours will be by telephone;
• longer hearings will proceed unless the judge decides otherwise;
• all involved must consider other options, including Skype and telephone conferences;
• if directions cannot be agreed then a hearing without attendance should be sought.

The guidance also deals with issues such as acceptance of electronic signatures, service by email, scanned documents, electronic bundles and capacity assessments undertaken via video link.