Recommendation 16

In public law, 32% of cases had at least one hearing cancelled on the day, which contributes to delays.27 HMCTS told us that the main reason cases are cancelled or adjourned, in over 25% of cases, is non-compliance with what the judge has ordered parties to do. Sometimes this is about staff capacity; for example, the capacity of social workers to be able to produce reports on time. Another reason cases are adjourned is that an updated report is needed because of changed family circumstances, because the case has languished in the system too long.28 The practice direction for family courts, setting out the legislative framework, recommends that most public law cases should have two to three hearings but the average is five hearings, with 20% of cases having eight or more hearings. In addition, the number of expert assessments, which each take up to six weeks to be compiled, increased from 2.4 reports per case in January 2023 to 3.3 in December 2024.29 HMCTS stressed that it was seeking to make processes more efficient, to the extent that they were under its control but that HMCTS is not, for example, entirely in control of how many hearings there are per case. That requires every agency to work in line with the judge’s directions. HMCTS but assured us, however, that massive reform was coming.30