Betts: System is not meeting the needs of domestic abuse victims
There are “unacceptably long delays” in the family justice system and the government is showing no urgency to deal with them, MPs have said.
The public accounts committee (PAC) was critical of the failure to collate the data needed to fully understand the reasons for the poor performance of the family courts.
A lack of district judges and social workers was also contributing to the delays, letting down children and families and failing to meet the needs of domestic abuse victims.
In the report Improving family court services for children, the committee said that, by December 2024, over 4,000 children were involved in cases open for longer than 100 weeks.
The statutory time limit of 26 weeks for public law cases “has never been met since its introduction in 2014” and cases lasted 36 weeks on average last year.
Neither of the lead departments, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Department for Education (DfE), nor the Family Justice Board (FJB), had “set out what a good service for family justice looks like, nor do they have a coherent shared plan for improving performance sustainably”.
Services had “improved following poor performance during the Covid-19 pandemic” and the departments “defended incremental improvements in timeliness rather than expressing any urgent need to bring the waiting times down to an acceptable level”.
The committee said there remained “significant gaps” in family justice data, such as demographic information on children or the prevalence of domestic abuse in private law cases.
“MoJ and DfE still struggle to fully understand what are the triggers that have the most impact on case length, for example capacity constraints, or the need for expert reports, making it difficult to understand where to prioritise efforts to reduce delay.
“Delays in cases weigh heavily on children, in particular for domestic abuse victims, but understanding of the differential impacts on different groups of service users, or what happens to children after court remains poor.”
The committee said it was “not yet possible to follow a child from end-to-end through the family justice system”, though the Wellbeing and Schools Bill now progressing through Parliament contained a provision to introduce a single child unique identifier, which could make a difference.
The committee recommended that the MoJ and DfE, working with HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), Cafcass and local authorities, in consultation with the judiciary, should set out “a joined-up data and evidence strategy” over the next six months.
It also recommended that the same departments, HMCTS and Cafcass clarify to the committee “the capacity required for family courts to meet current demand on a timely basis” and “how, and by when, family justice partners will resolve the workforce shortages in district judges and social workers, including details for locations where shortages are most acute”.
The MoJ and DfE should, over the next three months, “set out how they plan to improve family justice timeliness overall, including clear objectives, measurable milestones and a realistic timetable for achieving them”.
The committee said there was “no single body accountable for overall system performance” and the FJB had only met on average 2.5 times a year from 2018 to the end of last year. It recommended that the MoJ and DfE report to it, by December 2025, on how accountability could be strengthened.
Inefficiencies in the system were worsening outcomes for children, for example the cancellation of at least one hearing in around a third of public law cases.
The MoJ and DfE should take steps to improve efficiency by “making a system-wide assessment of where process inefficiencies impact on performance” and “putting in place arrangements to learn from and embed good practice”, while promoting alternative dispute resolution where possible.
Clive Betts, Labour MP and deputy chair of the committee, commented: “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.
“Of particular concern to our inquiry was evidence that the system is not meeting the needs of domestic abuse victims. There are encouraging findings highlighted in our report in the roll-out of the Pathfinder scheme to take a whole system approach to improve victims’ experience.
“The government should seize the opportunity this represents to improve private law performance, while bearing down on blind spots in the system which prevent improvements from being properly targeted.
“Given the experience of the system described to our inquiry by children and families, complacency is not an option.”
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