Record number of care applications for one month drives annual total to new high

A record number of care applications (1,066) for a single month in March drove the annual total to its highest figure yet, Cafcass has reported.

The organisation said there were 11,127 applications between April 2014 and March 2015.

This was just higher than the 11,110 recorded in 2012/13 and almost 5% up on last year's 10,620 applications.

For 2011/12 and 2010/11 the totals were 10,255 and 9,203 respectively.

The total for March this year beat the previous highest figure for a single month (1,020), set in July 2014. It was 16% up on March 2014.

Responding to the latest Cafcass figures, Graham Cole, Lawyers in Local Government’s Lead for Children’s Services and Education, said: “With reports around the country of rising numbers of care cases and continuing social and economic pressures upon families, these figures are not surprising.

“This rise is placing huge strain upon local authority social workers and lawyers and upon the court system at a time when both local authorities and the courts are struggling to cope against a backdrop of increasingly limited resources.

“It is therefore remarkable that significant progress has been made in reducing delays in care cases so that the 26 week limit is being achieved more frequently than before and this is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of local authority staff. However, as resources available to the local authorities and the courts face further cuts, it is doubtful that this progress can be sustained.”