New data from HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has once again highlighted the devastating delays and backlogs that continue to hamper the family courts.
As of September, the backlog is sitting at 110,425 cases – a 2% month-on-month increase. This is also a striking increase of 6.4% from the figure of 103,790 seen in September of last year.
This is, of course, leading to delays. The average number of weeks taken from Receipt to Final Order for a S8 Order is now some 43 weeks.
While this is a drop of two full days from August, it remains 2.8 days – or 7% – longer than it took last September. That said, delays have eased slightly for Public matters such as S31 Care & Supervision Orders, which at an average of 45.1 days are now two days quicker than they were in August and one day quicker than this time last year.
Yet, in both cases it is still taking nearly a full year to complete matters – something unacceptable to Law Society President Lubna Shuja, who said the Society is “extremely concerned about the effect delays and backlogs in the family courts are having on people seeking justice”, continuing:
“The ones who are impacted by this delay the most are families up and down the country. Some are dealing with deeply distressing issues – securing a child arrangement order, seeking protection from domestic abuse and controlling behaviour, or finalising a divorce.”
Shuja called on the government to act now by equipping the courts – and its users – properly:
“The UK government must ensure, so far as possible, that there are sufficient fee-paid and full-time judges to deal with existing and new caseloads.
There also continues to be a high number of litigants in person (LiPs) – people without representation in the courts system.
This is no surprise since cuts to legal aid have driven up the number of people who have no choice but to represent themselves through often highly stressful and complex legal proceedings.”
This, said Shuja, is a key source of delays – something that could be alleviated reinstating legal aid for early advice in family cases, something that “would make a cost-effective contribution to resolving the backlogs in the family courts”.
Elsewhere in the data, it was revealed that new divorce applications remained steady in September at 11,087 – just 18 less than August’s total.