The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has identified family law children’s cases as an area of inspection in its next round of inquiries announced this week, drawing on the work of the National Audit Office (NAO), whose report into improving family court services for children is expected to be published shortly.
The NAO’s report considers the work of the family courts’ specifically relating to children matters. In 2023 more than 130,000 children were involved in the family court system with His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), Children’s and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) and Department for Education (DfE) playing pivotal roles in public and private law proceedings.
The NAO identified on average families are waiting almost a year for decisions. In public law cases the average is 36 weeks, 12 weeks above the government’s target of 26 weeks. And the average is 42 weeks for private law cases. The purpose of the NAO’s report is to determine whether the family court system in England and Wales is being managed effectively to provide better outcomes for the children and families involved.
PAC is now calling for written evidence from senior Ministry of Justice and DfE officials, and representatives from other relevant bodies to assess
- if the family court system across England and Wales has capacity to meet current and future demand, including accounting for the needs of different groups within the system;
- how Departments and other organisations are working towards a whole system approach to improve family courts performance and;
- how the system can deliver an effective and efficient service that also offers value for taxpayers money.
It adds it assessed the work of Cafcass in 2010 when the service was deemed not fit for purpose; it has since been rated Outstanding by Ofsted.
The committee’s call for written evidence closes on Monday 9th June.
