Court-directed paternity testing

The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) is responsible for maintaining a list of accredited bodies to carry out court-directed tests for parentage in accordance with a direction made by a court pursuant to s 20 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969. This list is a procedural device to allow the court to identify a tester in cases where the court makes a s 20 direction. The statutory provisions do not apply where parties submit DNA evidence by agreement and without any s 20 direction being given and in such cases it is not essential for such tests to be carried out by a laboratory accredited by the DCA. The list of organisations which are accredited to carry out court directed paternity testing has been updated and is available on www.dca.gov.uk/family/accredited-list.pdf.