Reporting Restrictions Checklist — Ten-Point Pre-Publication Check for Court Copy

The useful output from a restrictions check is not a list of statutes but two columns: what you can still publish, and what you cannot. That is the thing a reporter needs on the bench, and it is the thing a lawyer’s note almost never produces.

Last reviewed: 24 August 2026Next review due: 24 August 2027

How it works

Ten yes/no questions, each naming a restriction: automatic s.49 anonymity for under-18s in the youth court, discretionary s.45 YJCEA orders in the adult courts, lifetime sexual-offence complainant anonymity, family proceedings under s.97 of the Children Act 1989, a s.4(2) postponement order, a s.11 anonymity order, special measures for vulnerable witnesses, a derogatory mitigation order, an order made privately that you have not yet seen, and juvenile co-accused.
Every question you answer “yes” to produces a card with the statute and two panels side by side: a green YOU CAN REPORT and a red YOU CANNOT REPORT, each written as concrete instructions rather than statutory language.
Answering “no” to all ten returns a green result that explicitly tells you to check the court list on the day anyway, for orders made in chambers.
The result can be copied as plain text or opened in a print window formatted as a “Reporting Restrictions Summary” with the date — the intended use is to take it into court on paper.

When to use it

Before filing court copy, as the last check that every restriction in play has been actively considered.
As a printed sheet to take into court, so the can-report and cannot-report columns are in front of you while you take a note.
When handing a hearing over to a colleague, as a written record of which restrictions were identified and on what basis.
When you have been told an order exists but not what it covers, so the “obtain the exact wording” instruction is on the page.
On a case with juvenile co-accused alongside adults, where naming the adult can identify the child.

What it does not do

Not legal advice. Breaching a reporting restriction is a contempt or a criminal offence, and a printed summary generated from ten self-answered questions is not a defence.
It cannot see the court list, the orders made in chambers, or the exact wording of any order in your case, all of which override anything here. The tool says as much: for a private order, its own “can report” answer is “nothing, until you have confirmed the scope with court staff”.
The can-report and cannot-report lines are general summaries of each restriction. They are not the terms of the order in your hearing, and an order can be drawn more widely or more narrowly than the standard position.
Ten questions is not the full field. It does not cover s.46 adult witness anonymity, anti-social behaviour injunction reporting, courts martial, single justice procedure, or the jigsaw risk created by combining separately permitted details — and it addresses England and Wales, not Scotland or Northern Ireland.

More tools

This is one of the free tools on UK JournoHub. See the full tools index for the rest.

Primary sources

Children and Young Persons Act 1933 s.49— legislation.gov.uk
Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 s.1— legislation.gov.uk
Children Act 1989 s.97— legislation.gov.uk
Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 s.58 — derogatory assertions— legislation.gov.uk