UK Inquiry Tracker

Improving family court services for children

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 6 May 2025 Closed: 15 Dec 2025 Parliament page

In 2023, more than 130,000 children were involved in the family court system. A large part of family courts’ work is dealing with disputes over children, such as deciding which parent a child should live with or whether a child should be taken into care for their protection.. The system … Read more In 2023, more than 130,000 children were involved in the family court system. A large part of family courts’ work is dealing with disputes over children, such as deciding which parent a child should live with or whether a child should be taken into care for their protection.. The system relies on input from a range of bodies including His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ); the Department for Education (DfE); and the Children’s and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), to provide adequate support and services for the children and families involved. The work of Cafcass was last examined by the Committee in 2010 when it determined that the service, which looks after the interests of children involved in family court proceedings in England, was not fit for purpose. However in the years since these findings Cafcass has been rated outstanding by Ofsted, although some past challenges identified by the PAC still apply today, including the pressure caused by high caseloads. The National Audit Office’s (NAO) work in this area in 2025 questioned whether the MoJ, DfE and other bodies involved in the family court system in England and Wales managing the system effectively to provide better outcomes for the children and families involved. In recent years the time taken to resolve cases in the family courts has steadily increased, with figures in March 2024 showing that families were waiting almost a year on average for decisions to be made. Based on the NAO’s work, the Committee will take evidence from senior MoJ and DfE officials, and representatives from other relevant bodies on topics including: Examining if the family court system across England and Wales has capacity to meet current and future demand, including accounting for the needs of different groups within the system; Understanding how Departments and other organisations are working towards a whole system approach to improve family courts performance and; Asking how the system can deliver an effective and efficient service that also offers value for taxpayers money. If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Monday 9 June 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Show less

5 Recommendations

25 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 4 events

12 Sep
2025

Report published

45th Report - Improving family court services for children

14 Jul
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive of HM Courts and Tribunals Service relating to the oral evidence session held on 23 June 2025 on Improving …

23 Jun
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

23 Jun
2025

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

23 Jun 2025

View on parliament.uk

Amy Rees CB · Ministry of Justice Fran Oram · Department for Education Jacky Tiotto · CAFCASS Luke Taylor · Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) Nick Goodwin · HMCTS

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
45th Report - Improving family court services for children	HC 883	12 Sep 2025	30	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 results

25 Conclusion Acknowledged

45th Report - Improving family cou…

Lack of a joined-up data plan hinders understanding of outcomes for children.

We asked MoJ and DfE why the system was not working as well as it should, given that better data sharing should allow improvements, and whether this was evidence of complacency.58 Delays in cases weigh heavily on children, in particular, … Read more

Government Response

Acknowledges delays, data gaps, and differing data collection methods, and the potential of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

HM Treasury

View details

26 Conclusion Acknowledged

45th Report - Improving family cou…

Total cost of the family justice system remains unknown to the MoJ.

MoJ told us that there are separate accounting officers for each part of the system, and that each could account for the costs for which they were responsible.62 MoJ accepted, however, that they did not know the cost of the … Read more

Government Response

Acknowledges the MoJ's statement about separate accounting officers and the lack of knowledge regarding the total cost of the family justice system, including local authority spending.

HM Treasury

View details

28 Conclusion Acknowledged

45th Report - Improving family cou…

Pathfinder scheme rollout requires significant funding reallocation for increased social worker and Cafcass involvement.

The new model reduces the number of court hearings and redistributes costs across the system.69 Evaluations from the two early pilots found that costs for local authorities more than doubled as social workers were involved in more cases, while the … Read more

Government Response

Acknowledges the cost redistribution of the new model and the need for reallocation of funding to support Cafcass and local authority social workers.

HM Treasury

View details

29 Conclusion Acknowledged

45th Report - Improving family cou…

Rollout of the Pathfinder model for private law remains significantly slow

MoJ told us that progress with improving timeliness for private law, including in London, will depend on the speed with which it rolls out the Pathfinder model.72 However, despite positive evaluations, wide stakeholder support, and the potential to improve timeliness, … Read more

Government Response

Acknowledges the progress of the Pathfinder model roll-out depends on funding and preparatory work.

HM Treasury

View details

Government Response AI assessment · 12 of 5 classified

Accepted 4

Acknowledged 4

Deferred 1

Not Addressed 3

Total 5 recs + 25 conclusions

Correspondence 1 letter

14 Jul 2025 To committee Letter from the Chief Executive of HM Courts and Tribunals Service relating to the oral evidence session held on 23 June 2025 on Improving family court services for children, 07 July 2025

Parliament page