Recommendation 29

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 pilots have been rolled out across six family court areas and MoJ has plans to roll it out to another four areas by the end of this financial year. MoJ told us it has an ambition to go “as far and as fast as we can”, depending on the funding it receives because some initial investments and a realignment of resources are required. Roll out also requires a lot of preparatory work, which takes time. Backlogs have first to be reduced and the right staff, particularly in social work, have to be recruited.73 Cafcass added that it would find it difficult to recruit the number of social workers needed for the new model in London.74 66 Qq 10, 21, 49, 50; C&AG’s Report, Appendix Two 67 Qq 16, 50; C&AG’s Report, para 3.14 68 IFC0027; IFC0029; IFC0067; IFC0068; IFC0069; IFC0079; IFC0091; IFC0108 69 Qq 41,50, 52,71-73 70 C&AG’s Report, para 2.20 71 Qq 50, 58; C&AG’s Report, paras 17, 2.20, 3.14 72 Qq 28, 30 73 Qq 30-31, 50-52, 54, 58 74 Q 31 18