PD27A Changes March 2026: What the New Bundle Rules Mean for Your Case

Published: 3 March 2026 · Corrected: 24 April 2026

Quick answer

A revised Practice Direction 27A came into force in family courts across England and Wales on 2 March 2026, replacing the December 2021 e-bundle guidance. It standardises bundle preparation, filing, and use at hearings. FPR Practice Direction Update No 1 of 2026 made clarifying amendments on 24 March 2026 (Efficiency Statement renamed Financial Remedies Guide, preliminary-document responsibilities clarified) but did not change pagination, size, or timetable rules. Every family case listed from 2 March 2026 onwards is affected.

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What happened on 2 March 2026?

The President of the Family Division promulgated a revised Practice Direction 27A that applies to all cases in the Family Court and the Family Division of the High Court.

Alongside the practice direction itself, the judiciary published a separate guidance document: Preparing Court Bundles for Family Proceedings: A Guide for Litigants in Person. This is the first time the judiciary has produced dedicated bundle preparation guidance specifically written for unrepresented parties.

The PD itself opens with its purpose: to achieve consistency across England and Wales in the family court and the Family Division of the High Court in the preparation and filing of court bundles.

This is not a minor amendment. The previous guidance — the December 2021 Guidance on E-Bundles for use in the Family Court and Family Division — has been superseded entirely.

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Who is affected?

Every person involved in family proceedings where a bundle is required:

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What changed — the key differences

Numbering system split by proceedings type

The single biggest operational change is that PD27A now expressly assigns different pagination systems to different proceedings types.

Chapter 7 — all non-financial-remedy Family proceedings (children cases, FLA applications, adoption, most family work): Bates numbering. Para 1.2 defines Bates verbatim:

"Bates numbering" is a numbering system where each section of a bundle is denoted by a letter, with each page in that section also being numbered, so that the first section begins at page A1, then page A2 and so on, and the second section begins at page B1, then page B2 and so on, through each section.

Output is A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3 … — numbers restart at 1 in each new section. This is a change from the previous PD27A, which required Arabic numbering "used throughout all bundles" with "each section separately paginated".

Chapter 6 — financial remedy proceedings: Arabic numbering. Arabic numerals consecutive through the whole bundle (1, 2, 3 …). PDF page labels must match the pagination.

Neither chapter requires numbers to run continuously across sections with a letter prefix (A1, A2, B3, B4, C5 …). That format is not a PD27A requirement.

Bundle contents

The revised PD27A confirms what should be in the bundle and, critically, what should not.

What must be included (depending on proceedings type):

• Case summary (max 6 pages — Ch 8.1)
• Statement of issues (max 2 pages)
• Chronology (max 10 pages; agreed at final hearings)
• Position statements from each party (tiered by hearing type — 3pp non-financial-remedy under Ch 7.18; 6/8/12/15pp financial remedy under Ch 6.12)
• All applications and orders (sealed or approved)
• Witness statements (max 25 pages exclusive of exhibits)
• Expert reports (max 40 pages including max 4-page executive summary)
• For financial remedy: Form ES1, Form ES2, each party's Form FM5

What should not be included (Ch 5.2 — excluded classes unless court directs):

• Correspondence (including expert instructions)
• Emails, texts, WhatsApp, social media
• Voice notes or recordings
• Bank and credit card statements
• Contact visit notes
• Foster carer logs
• Social services files (except assessments relied upon)
• Photographs

Many practitioners have been including raw correspondence and bundle material from previous hearings as a matter of course. The revised direction makes clear this should stop unless a judge specifically orders otherwise.

Bundle contents must be agreed earlier (Ch 13.2)

The new PD27A places greater emphasis on the parties agreeing the contents of the bundle well in advance of the hearing.

These deadlines are tighter than under the previous guidance, which allowed two to four working days for the body of the bundle. Failure to comply exposes the responsible party to the Ch 3 consequences: case removal from the list, postponement, adverse costs orders, or wasted costs orders.

Once filed, the bundle must not be amended before the hearing without prior court agreement (13.3) — accepted errors and court-permitted supplemental bundles are the only exceptions.

Electronic bundles are now the default (Ch 4.1–4.2)

The 2021 guidance treated electronic bundles as an alternative to paper. The 2026 direction makes e-bundles the default format. Para 4.1–4.2 provides that e-bundles are the default unless exceptional circumstances exist, or where the responsible party cannot produce one.

Paper bundles are still required for witness-box use, for LiPs who cannot access e-bundles, and where a realistic possibility of in-person witness evidence exists (4.3).

Technical specifications (Ch 11)

The revised PD27A tightens and formalises the technical requirements for e-bundles:

Paper bundles (Ch 12) are capped at 175 sheets / 350 sides of text in one A4 ring binder or lever arch file.

Note: PD27A caps pages, not file size in megabytes. Courts may impose upload-size limits on filing portals or email attachments, but those are separate from the PD-level page cap.

Provisions for unrepresented parties

Perhaps the most significant change is the explicit recognition that many people appearing in family court do not have legal representation.

The accompanying guidance for litigants in person covers:

• What a case summary is and how to write one
• How to structure a position statement
• What a chronology should look like, with examples
• How to organise documents into sections (Ch 7.3 for most cases; Ch 6.3 for financial remedy)
• Step-by-step instructions for creating an index
• Practical advice on pagination — including the Bates system for non-financial-remedy proceedings

This is a welcome development. Until now, litigants in person were expected to comply with the same technical standards as solicitors' firms, with no tailored guidance on how to do so.

The guidance also acknowledges a practical reality. It advises that if a litigant in person does not have the technical ability to prepare an electronic bundle, they should contact the court and explain the difficulty as far in advance of the hearing as possible.

Where all parties are unrepresented, the court itself may direct HMCTS to prepare the bundle (Ch 4.7).

Responsibility chain (Ch 4.5–4.7)

PD27A sets a three-tier responsibility chain:

1. Default (4.5): The applicant — or in cross-applications the first-in-time applicant — prepares, files, and serves the bundle.
2. Applicant unrepresented, respondent represented (4.6): The legally represented respondent must prepare the bundle.
3. All parties unrepresented (4.7): The court may direct HMCTS to prepare the bundle. HMCTS-prepared bundles are not required to meet the format rules in Ch 6–12.

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What this means in practice

If you are a solicitor

1. Review your bundle template and software. Does your tooling produce Bates numbering (per-section restart) for non-financial-remedy Family bundles, and Arabic (consecutive) for financial remedy? If it has a "continuous across sections" mode, do not use it for PD27A work — it isn't required by any in-force practice direction.
2. Update your deadline calculations. The 5-working-day filing deadline means you need the bundle finalised earlier. Build this into your case management timeline.
3. Strip out excluded-class documents. PD27A 5.2 is clear: include only relevant documents, and specifically exclude correspondence, emails, WhatsApp, voice notes, bank statements, contact notes, foster logs, social services files (except assessments relied upon), and photographs unless court-directed.
4. Check your e-bundle format. Does your current software produce hyperlinked indices, computer-generated pagination, PDF bookmarks, OCR-searchable text, Arial 12pt? If not, now is the time to switch.

If you are a litigant in person

1. Read the Judiciary's LiP guide. It was written specifically for you and is the clearest explanation the judiciary has ever published.
2. Start your bundle early. You need a finalised bundle 5 working days before your hearing, plus preliminary documents by 11:00 the working day before. If your hearing is on a Monday, that means the previous Monday at the latest. Give yourself more time than you think you need.
3. Use the correct numbering for your proceedings type. Most children proceedings use Bates (A1, A2, A3, B1, B2 …). Financial remedy uses Arabic (1, 2, 3 …).
4. Focus on what matters. Include only documents that are directly relevant to the issues the court will decide. Use the per-document page caps in Ch 8.1 as a guide (case summary 6pp, chronology 10pp, witness statement 25pp, etc.).
5. Ask for help if you need it. The guidance explicitly says you can contact the court if you are struggling with the technical requirements. Do this early, not the day before your hearing.

If you are a barrister

1. Check the bundle you receive. Does it use the correct pagination system for the proceedings type? If it was prepared before 2 March 2026 using the old guidance, it may need updating.
2. Raise issues early. If the bundle is non-compliant, contact the instructing solicitor or the court before the hearing. A last-minute application on the day is unhelpful for everyone.

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How BundleCreator handles the new requirements

BundleCreator produces Bates-numbered bundles for non-financial-remedy Family proceedings by default, matching PD27A Ch 7.2. For financial remedy, the toggle switches to Arabic consecutive per Ch 6.2. Here's how each requirement maps:

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Compliance checklist for the new PD27A

Contents

• Case summary (max 6 pages)
• Statement of issues (max 2 pages)
• Chronology (max 10 pages)
• Position statements from each party (within tiered page caps)
• All applications and orders
• Witness statements (max 25 pages excluding exhibits)
• Expert reports (max 40 pages including 4-page executive summary)
• Excluded classes (Ch 5.2) removed unless court-directed

Technical format

• PDF format (Ch 11.2(a))
• All text searchable (OCR applied — 11.2(e))
• Pagination uses Bates for non-financial-remedy or Arabic for financial remedy
• For financial remedy: PDF page labels match pagination (11.2(c))
• Hyperlinked index at the front (11.2(d))
• PDF bookmarks for each section and significant document (11.2(d))
• Under 350 pages A4 (11.2(b))
• Resolution ≤ 300 dpi (11.2(j))
• Arial or Times New Roman, minimum 12pt (11.2(k)–(l))
• Landscape pages appear landscape (11.2(f))
• Default view 100% (11.2(g))

Filing (Ch 13.2)

• Bundle contents agreed with other parties (7 working days before hearing)
• Bundle (except preliminary documents) served and filed (5 working days before hearing)
• Preliminary documents served and filed (11am the working day before hearing)
• Filed via HMCTS portal where available (14.2(b))
• Filename contains hearing date, case reference, short case name, content indication (14.2(a))

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Frequently asked questions

Does this apply to cases already listed before 2 March 2026?

The practice direction came into force on 2 March 2026. If your hearing is listed after this date, the new requirements apply to your bundle — even if the case was issued months or years ago.

My hearing is next week. Do I need to redo my bundle?

If your bundle was already prepared and filed in compliance with the previous guidance, it is unlikely a court would reject it for the hearing next week. However, for any future hearings in the same case, use the new requirements. In particular, if your bundle is for a non-financial-remedy proceeding and was numbered consecutively throughout (rather than Bates per-section), you may want to repaginate before the next hearing.

Does this apply to all types of family proceedings?

Yes. The practice direction applies to all proceedings in the Family Court and the Family Division of the High Court. Different chapters apply depending on proceedings type: Ch 6 to financial remedy; Ch 7 to all other Family proceedings. The remaining chapters apply universally.

What if the other side will not agree the bundle contents?

The party with responsibility for the bundle should prepare it to the best of their ability and note any disputes. The court can resolve disagreements about bundle contents at the hearing or by way of directions.

Where can I find the full text of the new PD27A?

The official text is published on the justice.gov.uk website. The accompanying guidance for litigants in person is at judiciary.uk.

I am a litigant in person and I cannot create an electronic bundle. What do I do?

Contact the court as early as possible and explain your difficulty. The revised guidance explicitly acknowledges that some unrepresented parties may lack the technical ability to create electronic bundles. The court can make alternative arrangements, including (in some cases) directing HMCTS to prepare the bundle under Ch 4.7.

What did the 24 March 2026 amendment change?

FPR Practice Direction Update No 1 of 2026 made clarifying amendments to PD27A with effect from 24 March 2026: it clarified which preliminary documents should (where possible) be agreed between parties, set out which party is responsible for filing each preliminary document, replaced references to the "Efficiency Statement" with references to the "Financial Remedies Guide", corrected a subparagraph numbering error and a cross-reference, and added a reference directing litigants in person to the Judiciary's LiP bundle-preparation guide. It did not change the pagination, size-limit, or timetable rules.

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Official resources

• Practice Direction 27A — Full text of the revised practice direction
• Family Procedure Rules — Complete procedural rules for family proceedings
• Preparing Court Bundles: A Guide for Litigants in Person — Published by the Judiciary
• Financial Remedies Journal: PD27A Redux — Detailed analysis of the changes
• Financial Remedies Journal: Bundle of Joy — Further practitioner commentary

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What to do next

If you have a hearing coming up, the single most important thing you can do right now is check whether your bundle complies with the revised requirements — particularly the pagination system for your proceedings type.

BundleCreator's templates align with the March 2026 PD27A. Start a new bundle and the correct section ordering, Bates or Arabic pagination, and formatting are applied automatically.

Start your 14-day trial and create your first PD27A-aligned bundle today.

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This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Practice Direction 27A is subject to change, and you should always refer to the official text for the current requirements. If you are unsure how the rules apply to your case, seek advice from a qualified legal professional.

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Further reading

• PD27A Pagination and Indexing Requirements 2026 — Detailed technical requirements
• How to Create a PD27A-Aligned Court Bundle — Step-by-step compliance guide
• UK Court Bundle Compliance Guide (2025-2026) — Comprehensive reference across all jurisdictions
• FHDRA Hearing: How to Prepare Your Bundle — First hearing preparation