Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee

45th Report - Improving family court services for children

Public Accounts Committee HC 883 Published 12 September 2025

Report Status

Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations

30 items (5 recs)

Source

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Government Response

AI assessment · 12 of 30 classified

Accepted 4

Acknowledged 4

Deferred 1

Not Addressed 3

Recommendations

4 results

2 Accepted

Assess and report on improving accountability for family justice system by December 2025.

Recommendation

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 … Read more

Government Response 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.

HM Treasury

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3 Accepted

Improve efficiency in family justice processes and clarify £2 billion social care investment.

Recommendation

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 … Read more 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 Show less

Government Response 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 transformation with details published in March 2025. It also commits to strengthening arrangements for learning and embedding good practice within the April 2026 strategy.

HM Treasury

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4 Accepted

Clarify required family court capacity and plans to resolve judge and social worker shortages.

Recommendation

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 … Read more

Government Response 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 induction programs, and statutory guidance on agency staff.

HM Treasury

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5 Accepted

Set out a joined-up data and evidence strategy for family justice within six months.

Recommendation

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, … Read more

Government Response 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 for the Children in Need census by September 2025.

HM Treasury

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