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 …
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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 limit of 26 weeks for most public law cases. The FJB, set up to improve performance across the system, was supposed to meet quarterly but only met on average 2.5 times a year from June 2018 to December 2024 and has no overall strategy to improve family justice. The Board set six priorities for the family justice system in 2024–25 but did not monitor one of these at all. There is a lack of transparency about how, and by when, departments expect the six priorities to be delivered. Neither is there an effective mechanism to hold individual bodies to account. 3 The purpose of Local Family Justice Boards is to help improve services locally, but these local boards have no accountability, are not resourced and their performance is variable. recommendation MoJ and DfE should assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current accountability arrangements for family justice, and report back by December 2025 on how this might be improved, including: • how accountability can be strengthened across the system by consolidating current responsibilities or increasing transparent reporting; and • how both departments can better support the Family Justice Board nationally, and Local Family Justice Boards locally, to improve performance.
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Government response AI summary
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.
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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 …
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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 that, but current processes can lead to errors, duplication or unnecessary effort. We heard about some improvements for public law but there are still significant inefficiencies in systems and processes both for public and for private law. Many families, particularly litigants in person, find it difficult to understand what they need to do, leading to additional pressure on court resources. The average number of hearings and the number of expert reports per case have also increased in recent years. When cases are delayed it becomes more likely that family situations will change before the case concludes, leading to the need for new expert reports and court hearings. Settling cases out of court such as through mediation can be quicker, with benefits for children, but uptake of MoJ’s mediation voucher scheme has remained too low. Helping families stay together also helps improve court performance through reducing demand on the struggling court system. To that end, the Spending Review of June 2025 announced £2 billion funding for new investments in children’s social care, part of which is intended to provide better family support. recommendation MoJ and DfE should take steps to improve efficiency in family justice systems and processes by: • making a system-wide assessment of where process inefficiencies impact on performance; 4 • putting in place arrangements to learn from and embed good practice; • supporting families, in particular, litigants in person, to better navigate the system; • promoting alternative resolutions where possible; and • clarifying how the additional £2 billion of new investment in children’s social care will be spent, for example, in impro
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Government response AI summary
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 billion for children's social care …
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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 …
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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 53 weeks in London (for private law, it was 18 weeks and 70 weeks respectively). A major cause for particularly poor performance in London and the South East is that there are too few district judges and social workers in these areas. However, the departments have not systematically assessed what capacity would be required to meet demand at regional level. MoJ and HMCTS have attempted to increase judicial capacity over the last few years, for example by raising the retirement age and improving pension arrangements, but it remains a major ‘pinch point’ in London. HMCTS plans to recruit 80 district judges specifically for London and the South East with a view to addressing these shortages. recommendation In its Treasury Minute response MoJ, together with DfE, HMCTS and Cafcass, should clarify to the Committee: • the capacity required for family courts to meet current demand on a timely basis; and • how, and by when, family justice partners will resolve the workforce shortages in district judges and social workers, including details for locations where shortages are most acute.
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Government response AI summary
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 increased numbers, improved retention, new …
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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 …
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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 groups; or for the prevalence of domestic abuse in private law cases. MoJ and DfE still struggle to fully understand what are the triggers that have the most impact on case length, for example capacity constraints, or the need for expert reports, making it difficult to understand 5 where to prioritise efforts to reduce delay. Delays in cases weigh heavily on children, in particular for domestic abuse victims, but understanding of the differential impacts on different groups of service users, or what happens to children after court remains poor. It is not yet possible to follow a child from end-to-end through the family justice system, although the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill now progressing through Parliament contains a provision to introduce a single child unique identifier, which could make a material difference. In addition, not enough is known about what happens to children at the end of proceedings. A further significant data gap is that MoJ and DfE do not know how much is spent on family justice across the system, including spending by local authorities. recommendation MoJ and DfE, working with HMCTS, Cafcass and Local Authorities, in consultation with the Judiciary, should set out a joined-up data and evidence strategy over the next six months. This strategy should outline how the department will collect better data on: • most important causes of delays and inefficiencies; • tracking a child’s progress through the system from end to end; • differential outcomes for user groups; and • the ‘whole system’ costs of family justice.
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Government response AI summary
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 and introducing new data modules …
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HM Treasury