Recommendations & Conclusions
4 items
2
Recommendation
45th Report - Improving family court se…
Accepted
The family justice system is complex, but excessive fragmentation hinders transparency, leading to poor accountability for service improvement and overall performance. The family justice system involves many organisations across government and the independent judiciary. There is no single body accountable for overall system performance, including delivery of the statutory time …
Government response. The government accepted the recommendation, agreeing to assess current accountability arrangements for family justice and report back to the Committee by December 2025 with plans for improvements and better support for Family Justice Boards.
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
45th Report - Improving family court se…
Accepted
There are inefficiencies in systems and processes that worsen experiences and outcomes for children and families, making it harder to achieve best value for money. Around 32% of public law cases have at least one hearing cancelled before the hearing takes place, leading to delays and wasted resources. Not only …
Government response. The government agrees to improve efficiency across the family justice system. It will outline implications of inefficiency assessments and next steps in an April 2026 strategy, commit over £6 million to support legal services and alternative resolutions, and leverage £2 …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
45th Report - Improving family court se…
Accepted
Shortages in the number of district judges and social workers are contributing to delays, and to significant regional differences in timeliness of resolving cases. There are wide variations in durations of cases; for example, in December 2024, the average duration for public law cases was 24 weeks in Wales but …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating it has already increased judicial capacity, assesses family court capacity annually, and expects judicial recruitment campaign outcomes by Spring 2026. It further details ongoing investments by the DfE to address social worker shortages, including …
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
45th Report - Improving family court se…
Accepted
MoJ and DfE do not have the data they need to fully understand the reasons for poor performance and design well targeted improvements. There remain significant gaps in family justice data. HMCTS does not collect enough demographic information on children, and there are no data on outcomes for different user …
Government response. The government accepts the recommendation, stating Cafcass Cymru will outline plans for a joined-up data and evidence strategy in 2026-2027 to improve data sharing, address gaps, track outcomes, and understand causes of delay. This includes piloting a unique child identifier …
HM Treasury