Despite a statutory requirement for most public law cases to complete within 26 weeks, more than 4,000 children waited longer than 100 weeks in December 2024. In London, cases last 53 weeks on average. Nearly one third of all public law family cases have at least one hearing cancelled.
The PAC’s Family court services report, published this week, highlights the consequences of such delays—family situations often change before the case concludes, leading to a need for more expert reports and more court hearings. The PAC found the delays weigh heavily on children, particularly where domestic abuse is involved, yet the government’s understanding of the impact ‘remains poor’. Moreover, the PAC’s inquiry heard concerns that court staff, advisors and Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) staff are poorly resourced and insufficiently trained to support abuse victims.
One reason for the delays is a shortage of district judges and social workers, yet the departments concerned have ‘not systematically assessed what capacity would be required’ to meet demand. However, the PAC notes HM Courts and Services plan to recruit 80 district judges specifically for London and the South East to boost numbers.
It makes six recommendations in the report, including for ministers, HMCTS and Cafcass to clarify the capacity required and how and by when it will resolve the lack of judges and social workers, including details for locations where shortages are most acute.
It recommends a plan and timeline for the rollout of pathfinder courts within the next 12 months. It also calls on ministers to ‘make a system-wide assessment’ of inefficiencies, show how their departments will collect better data and provide clear plans in the next three months for improving timeliness overall.
Clive Betts MP, deputy chair of the PAC, said: ‘Every submission contributed to a picture of a system badly letting down the children and families that it is there to serve.
‘Alarmingly, when challenged on unacceptable waiting times in the system, government fell back on defending moderate improvements since the pandemic, rather than appreciating the urgent need for reform glaringly obvious to court users… complacency is not an option.’
CILEX President Sara Fowler welcomed the recommendations and called on the government to ‘take urgent action’.
Sarah Norman-Scott, family lawyer at Hodge Jones & Allen, said the justice system was ‘not providing timely protection to often vulnerable children, undermining public trust in the system and potentially leading to an escalation of harm with children and victims of domestic abuse put at risk.
‘The justice system risks becoming part of the problem rather than the solution, with the re-traumatisation of families that are already facing considerable challenges and the minimising of their experiences. Reforms need to be made urgently and must be properly funded.’
Rachel Frost-Smith, legal director in the Family Team at Birketts LLP, commented that the impact of the delays on children and vulnerable parents was ‘profound in the short, medium and long term’.
‘In London, it can take weeks to get before a court to obtain injunctive relief (non-molestation and occupation orders) under the Family Law Act. These orders are designed to protect victims of abuse, which include any children living in a household,’ she said, adding that delays in the system were also being used ‘cynically’ by some parents to ensure children did not spend time with a parent for long periods of time.
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