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The King's Bench Division Guide 2023 contains an explanation which people not familiar with Tomlin orders may find useful.
15.15 A Tomlin order is a consent order in which the agreed terms are annexed as a schedule to the order and are not part of the court order as such. The terms in the schedule represent a binding contract between the parties and cannot be enforced directly as an order of the court, but only on an application to carry them into effect. The court's order records the fact of settlement and allows an application in the same action to carry the contractual terms into effect.
15.16 That is to be contrasted with a consent order which is directly enforceable.
15.17 A Tomlin order can be useful where the settlement contains matters outside the scope of the claim or agreements which, whilst enforceable as contractual terms, the court would otherwise have no power to order as remedies in the claim itself.
15.18 The schedule to a Tomlin order, whilst not strictly part of the order of the court, is not confidential unless the court orders otherwise. It is open to public inspection pursuant to CPR5.4C, as any other court order. This is the case even if it is headed "confidential".
15.19 If parties wish the terms of settlement to be confidential, they must either (on proper grounds) apply for an order imposing restrictions on the access to the document on the court file or identify and refer to the settlement agreement without setting out its terms, either on the face of the Tomlin order, or in the schedule to the Tomlin order
15.16 That is to be contrasted with a consent order which is directly enforceable.
15.17 A Tomlin order can be useful where the settlement contains matters outside the scope of the claim or agreements which, whilst enforceable as contractual terms, the court would otherwise have no power to order as remedies in the claim itself.
15.18 The schedule to a Tomlin order, whilst not strictly part of the order of the court, is not confidential unless the court orders otherwise. It is open to public inspection pursuant to CPR5.4C, as any other court order. This is the case even if it is headed "confidential".
15.19 If parties wish the terms of settlement to be confidential, they must either (on proper grounds) apply for an order imposing restrictions on the access to the document on the court file or identify and refer to the settlement agreement without setting out its terms, either on the face of the Tomlin order, or in the schedule to the Tomlin order
