In the second full year of data following the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, so-called ‘No Fault Divorce’ (NFD), 74% of divorces are now processed under the regime. Implemented on 6th April 2022, there is evidence to suggest many couples had waited for the act to pass before initiating proceedings say the Office for National Statistics (ONS) given the sizeable increase from 9% of divorces in 2022 granted under the new Act.
According to the ONS, the numbers broadly align with pre-pandemic figures. In 2023, there were 103,816 legal partnership dissolutions, comprising of both divorces (102,678) and civil partnership dissolutions (1,138). There is however, a general downward trend since a peak in 1993, with 2021 seeing a blip in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic which saw delays in divorce applications, and in the courts system.
In their recently released figures, the Ministry of Justice’s quarterly Family Court Statistics show between January and March 2025 28,890 divorce applications were made under the (NFD) legislation; a decrease of 3% from the same quarter in 2024. Interestingly, both the MoJ figures, and the ONS figures show three quarters of applications are from sole applicants; despite the new legislation enabling joint applicants.
There were 22,053 final orders granted in January to March 2025 down 14% compared to the same quarter in 2024 (across both no fault divorce and prior legislation) with the mean average time from application to conditional order a week longer than the same time last year at 42 weeks. The mean average time from application to final order was 74 weeks, up 7 weeks from the equivalent quarter in 2024.
In January to March 2025, the number of financial remedy applications and disposals events remained broadly similar Q1 2024. There were 11,716 financial remedy applications made in January to March 2025, up 1%, while there were 11,439 financial remedy disposals events. One quarter of those were contested.
Commenting on the figures Alice Rogers, Legal Director at Burgess Mee, said
“Given that no-fault divorce legislation is still in its infancy in terms of data, the statistics have revealed noteworthy change. The rate of divorce is still falling from its peak in 1993. Inevitably, this is linked to the increase in cohabiting couples who build a life as committed partners, but without marrying.
“Almost three-quarters (73.1%) of final orders in divorce granted under the new legislation were sole applications, which is relatively high given the hope that no-fault divorce would encourage more joint applications. This could reflect the fact that some parties want to initiate the process on their own terms or want to avoid delay caused by the other party in starting a joint application.
“The new no-fault divorce system, with all its advantages, can bring with it additional time and often delay. It can now take longer to reach the conditional order in the divorce. There is a minimum 20-week ‘cooling off’ period from the start of divorce proceedings until the conditional order (the first stage in the divorce process) can be applied for. Sometimes a financial agreement is reached well in advance of the conditional order being granted by the court, leaving the parties in a situation where they have agreed the financial outcome, and yet are unable to seek approval from the court.”
Nick Gova, Partner and Head of Family at Spector Constant & Williams said the statistics showed widespread adoption of NFD marking a major cultural and legal shift from the unreasonable behaviour which remains the most commonly cited reason under the old law for cases still going through.
“Overall, the statistics reflect not just legal change, but evolving social attitudes – toward cohabitation, later marriage, and less adversarial separations. As family lawyers, we welcome the increasing clarity and fairness that the new system brings to clients navigating one of the most emotionally challenging chapters of life.”
The MoJ’s statistics also show 67,541 new cases started in family courts in the first quarter of the year. There were small decreases in matrimonial (3%), public law (3%) and private law (1%) cases; and small increases in financial remedy (2%) and domestic violence (1%) case starts. The average time for divorce cases (under the no fault divorce law) to reach first disposal was up 3 weeks compared to Q1 2024.
There were 13,311 private law cases started and 13,990 new private law applications made. The number of private law disposals in January to March 2025 was 29,125, down 7% on the equivalent quarter in 2024, with the average time to first disposal in January to March 2025 taking 20 weeks, down around 2 weeks and an average of 41 weeks for private law cases to reach a final order.
And there is an increase both the number of domestic violence remedy applications and orders made, consistent with the long-term trend. In January to March 2025, there were 8,042 domestic violence remedy applications, (up by 5% on the same quarter in 2024), requesting a total of 9,222 orders given multiple orders can be applied for in a single application. Most of the orders applied for were non-molestation orders (84%) compared to occupation orders (16%); these proportions have remained relatively consistent in recent years. Applications for non-molestation orders in January to March 2025 were up, by 5% whereas applications for occupation orders were down, by 3% respectively, compared to the same period in 2024. There were 9,374 domestic violence orders made in January to March 2025, up 1% from the same period last year. 94% were non-molestation orders and 6% were occupation orders, with non-molestation orders up by 2% and occupation orders down by 5% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024.
