They should focus only on what is necessary, the Public Law Working Group’s report said, and ‘it should be rare for more than six issues to be relevant’.
This is one of 47 recommendations for change made in the report, published this week. The group was established to look into the steep rise in public law family cases in 2016/17 and 2017/18. Numbers remain high―in the past ten years, initial referrals to social care have risen 22%, children subject to a child protection plan by 87%, and numbers of looked-after children by 24%.
The report’s recommendations include placing more emphasis on judicial continuity, reducing the use of experts and renewing focus on ‘necessity’, allowing judicial extensions of the 26-week time limit and promoting consistency of outcomes on a national basis.
Sir Andrew endorsed the report.
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