His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) say they received over 560,000 cases in the Family Court and held over 98,000 sitting days in the most recently published HMCTS Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25.
The report identifies progress in work done within HMCTS since 2016 to digitise much of the service, with over 500,000 divorce applications made online since 2019. The Reform Programme has cost £1.3bn and is delivering what was described at the time as ‘the most ambitious programme of its kind in the world.’
The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice published a joint statement in 2016 setting out the fact that, despite our courts and legal systems being world-renowned, much of the system was antiquated, paper-based, and not fit for the future. It recognised that unnecessarily complicated processes were not designed around users, leading to frustration and confusion, as well as costing far too much to run.
Many of its services have been digitised across crime, civil, family and tribunals services with 98% of family public law applications from legal professionals now submitted digitally. The new online divorce service has received a high digital uptake, with 94% of users completing the form online without the need of a solicitor.
Private Family Law
The number of private family law receipts and disposals in 2024-25 has been consistent with the previous 2 financial years, as the service stabilises following the pandemic. The open caseload has continued to fall this year and is now at the lowest level since July 2019. This is leading to improvements in timeliness which has been steadily improving throughout the year. Work continues to rollout the pathfinder programme, and additionally, HMCTS launched a new end-to-end digital system for private law cases in two District Family Judge areas with a plan to rollout the system across the Family Court in 2025-26, reducing unnecessary administrative delay and assisting hearings to run more smoothly through improved case files.
Public Family Law
In line with the priorities set by the Family Justice Board, HMCTS said the Family Court has been focusing on finalising older cases. As a result, the open caseload has reduced, and is now lower than it was 5 years ago. The focus on older cases means that the average waiting times have been slower to improve but they have still reduced by two weeks to 34 compared to the start of the financial year and are at the lowest since the pandemic began. HMCTS continue to work with the judiciary to support the relaunch of the Public Law Outline system and maximise the use of judicial sitting days on these cases.
