Family court backlogs

Family Court Backlogs: ‘Children and Families are being let down by a family justice system that is taking much longer than it should’

The Committee of Public Accounts has recently produced its report on how to improve the family court services for children. Its conclusion is that ‘children and families are waiting too long for the family courts to resolve their cases’. In December 2024, there were over 4,000 children involved in cases open for longer than 100 weeks. In private law, average durations of cases were 41 weeks. Delays are increasingly common in London, with average durations of 70 weeks for private law proceedings, compared to 18 weeks in Wales.

The reasons for delay are put down to inefficiencies in systems and shortages in the number of district judges and social workers. The costs associated with private family proceedings have left many families representing themselves in proceedings as litigants in person and struggling to understand what they need to do, leading to additional pressures on already stretched court resources.

The longer cases take to resolve, the more distressing it is for the children and families involved and the higher likelihood that family circumstances will change before the case concludes and updating expert reports and court hearings will be required.

Settling cases outside of court, through mediation or negotiation with the help of solicitors can be quicker and more cost effective, with benefits for children. In the meantime, the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Education have been criticised for failing to address the urgent need for reform and given three months to come up with an action plan.