Reducing Court Delays Delivery Partner

Delivery Partner to deliver a new pilot from January 2024 to March 2025 aimed at reducing delays in the family justice (FJ) system by working with Local Authorities (LAs) in Designated Family Judge (DFJ) areas to develop and implement solutions to tackle the root causes of delay.

The FJ system is one of the most complex and cross-system policy areas in children’s services. DfE holds responsibility for public law, covering all vulnerable children in England who require LA intervention.

2.3. Unacceptable delays in the family courts have been a long-standing issue for over 10 years. In 2011, the average case duration (for cases when a social worker (SW) determines that a child is at significant risk, so applies for an order) was c55 weeks, with some cases taking more than two years to conclude. This results in poorer outcomes for children and huge additional costs to LAs and the taxpayer. The estimated costs of the FJ system is £1.2bn , which equates to over 10% of all direct expenditure on the children’s social care (CSC) system (2019/20) .