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Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Improving family court services for children

Status: Closed Opened: 6 May 2025 Closed: 15 Dec 2025 5 recommendations 25 conclusions 1 report

In 2023, more than 130,000 children were involved in the family court system. A large part of family courts’ work is dealing with disputes over children, such as deciding which parent a child should live with or whether a child should be taken into care for their protection.. The system relies on input from a …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
45th Report - Improving family court services for children HC 883 12 Sep 2025 30 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 items
25 Conclusion 45th Report - Improving family court se… Acknowledged

Lack of a joined-up data plan hinders understanding of outcomes for children.

We asked MoJ and DfE why the system was not working as well as it should, given that better data sharing should allow improvements, and whether this was evidence of complacency.58 Delays in cases weigh heavily on children, in particular, domestic abuse victims.59 Gaps in the data mean that MoJ …

Government response. Acknowledges delays, data gaps, and differing data collection methods, and the potential of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
HM Treasury
26 Conclusion 45th Report - Improving family court se… Acknowledged

Total cost of the family justice system remains unknown to the MoJ.

MoJ told us that there are separate accounting officers for each part of the system, and that each could account for the costs for which they were responsible.62 MoJ accepted, however, that they did not know the cost of the family justice system in totality, including spending by local authorities.63 …

Government response. Acknowledges the MoJ's statement about separate accounting officers and the lack of knowledge regarding the total cost of the family justice system, including local authority spending.
HM Treasury
28 Conclusion 45th Report - Improving family court se… Acknowledged

Pathfinder scheme rollout requires significant funding reallocation for increased social worker and Cafcass involvement.

The new model reduces the number of court hearings and redistributes costs across the system.69 Evaluations from the two early pilots found that costs for local authorities more than doubled as social workers were involved in more cases, while the judicial cost halved due to a reduced number of hearings.70 …

Government response. Acknowledges the cost redistribution of the new model and the need for reallocation of funding to support Cafcass and local authority social workers.
HM Treasury
29 Conclusion 45th Report - Improving family court se… Acknowledged

Rollout of the Pathfinder model for private law remains significantly slow

MoJ told us that progress with improving timeliness for private law, including in London, will depend on the speed with which it rolls out the Pathfinder model.72 However, despite positive evaluations, wide stakeholder support, and the potential to improve timeliness, progress in rolling out the new model is slow. Pathfinder …

Government response. Acknowledges the progress of the Pathfinder model roll-out depends on funding and preparatory work.
HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
23 Jun 2025 Amy Rees CB · Ministry of Justice, Fran Oram · Department for Education, Jacky Tiotto · CAFCASS, Luke Taylor · Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Nick Goodwin · HMCTS View ↗

Correspondence

1 letter
DateDirectionTitle
14 Jul 2025 To cttee Letter from the Chief Executive of HM Courts and Tribunals Service relating to …