Panel recommends radical reforms to “shocking” family justice system

The interim report of the Family Justice Review panel has recommended a radical programme of reforms aimed at alleviating “shocking” delays experienced by users of the system in England and Wales.

The recommendations include the creation of a new Family Justice Service, led by a National Family Justice Board, to draw the key functions of agencies together and the creation of Local Family Justice Boards, replacing the existing “plethora of arrangements”. The work of Cafcass in England should be taken over by the new Family Justice Service, the panel said, although Cafcass Cymru would continue to provide these services in Wales as this is a devolved function.

The panel also said that the current three-tier system family court should be unified, with the introduction of specialist judges who hear cases from start to finish.

In care cases, the panel said that a bespoke timetable for resolving each child’s situation should be established within a maximum time limit and said that, in order to reduce delays, there should be less reliance on “unnecessary” expert reports where these are not in the best interests of the child. It also recommended more investment in court systems to manage cases and other measures to simplify processes and help manage cases better, to enable judges to manage cases more tightly.

The review, which is being chaired by former civil servant David Norgrove, said that the family justice system was “too complicated, with overlapping structures and a lack of shared goals and objectives”, which created  harmful delays for vulnerable children and adults and was failing to work to the full benefit of the children it is designed to help.

Norgrove said: “Family justice is under huge strain. Cases take far too long and delays are likely to rise. Children can wait well over a year for their futures to be settled. This is shocking.

“Our recommendations aim to tackle these issues, to bring greater coherence through organisational change and better management, making the system more able to cope with current and future pressures and to divert more issues away from court where appropriate.”

The panel also made a series of recommendations for the children of separating couples, including:

• a statement inserted into law to reinforce the importance of the child continuing to have a meaningful relationship with both parents, alongside the need to protect the child from harm.
• use of Parenting Agreements to bring together arrangements for children’s care after separation, focusing on where the child spends time rather than ‘contact’ and ‘residence’ and reinforcing the importance of a relationship with grandparents and other relatives and friends who the child values.
• assessment for mediation followed by access to Separated Parents Information Programmes and dispute resolution to help separating parents understand the impact of conflict on the children and to reach agreement.
• a court process that supports cases where there are serious welfare concerns and allows for cases to be dealt with according to complexity.

The interim report of the Family Justice Review panel is now open to consultation and a copy of the consultation can be downloaded by clicking on the following link: FamilyJusticeReview.

The panel will report its final recommendations to the government in the autumn.

The expert panel were appointed by the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Education, and the Welsh Assembly Government on 16 February 2010. Panel members include Mr Justice McFarlane, the Family Division Liaison Judge for the Midlands, John Coughlan CBE, Director of Children's Services at Hampshire County Council, Dame Gillian Pugh, Chair of the National Children’s Bureau, Keith Towler, Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Baroness Shireen Richie.