Rise in public law cases is “no justification” for councils to step back from applying pre-application strictures: Family President

However, he also warned there is “no justification” for local authorities to step back from applying the pre-application strictures contained in the Public Law Working Group’s (PLWG’s) recommendations, if there is an increase in the number of new public law cases in their area.

In ‘A View from The President of the Family Division’s Chambers – April 2026’, written a short time before his retirement on 13 April, the Family President observed that in three regions, the number of care cases concluding in under 26 weeks is at or over 50%.

Meanwhile, there has been a 30% decrease in the number of public law cases open for more than 90 weeks.

In November 2022, Sir Andrew demanded that the vast majority of childcare proceedings be concluded within the statutory 26-week deadline.

To overcome the level of delay in the system, he outlined a '20-point plan' for family practitioners to follow in all cases from 16 January 2023, to reconnect with the Public Law Outline (PLO).

According to the Family President’s latest ‘View’, in December 2025, the average case duration for public law was 32 weeks and for private law it was 35 weeks, down from 39 and 46 weeks in December 2022.

Sir Andrew noted that although this “positive direction of travel” has been maintained for some time, in recent months there has been an increase in the volume of new cases being issued.

He warned local authorities faced with this situation not to step back from applying the pre-application strictures contained in the PLWG’s recommendations.

“On the contrary, a rise in volume should increase the need for sound case preparation, assessment and planning before any court application is made. Equally, where there is an increase in business in a court, the need for tight case-management (either under the Public Law Outline or in private law) is all the more important.”

Also in his ‘View’, the Family President drew attention to new Allocation and Gatekeeping Guidance, published on 31 March 2026, which will come into effect on 5 May.

He said: “This Guidance combines allocation and gatekeeping for public and private law cases into one document. For the first time provision is specifically made for the allocation of cases to family magistrates.

“The tabular schedules in the 2014 guidance documents have been replaced by lists of case types for each tier of judiciary (Magistrates, District Judges and Circuit Judges) in the Public Law Schedule and in the Private Law Schedule. The essential aims of the Guidance are threefold:

1. to ensure that public and private law cases are allocated to and heard by the appropriate level of judiciary;
2. to ensure that the family justice system makes the most effective and efficient use of all available judicial resources; and
3. to assist gatekeeping teams to make the appropriate and proportionate allocation decisions as efficiently as possible.”

Other topics in the President's 'View' included ‘Child Focused Courts’, ‘Sitting days’, ‘Domestic Abuse Injunction Guidance’ and ‘AI and the Family Court’.

Commenting on the end of his time as President, Sir Andrew said: “I am retiring at a time when I am still very much enjoying the role of PFD. I shall miss the people that I currently see and work with regularly. I shall miss the court work, the development of projects and (although I thought that I would never feel this) I shall even miss the Rule Committee.

“I am not going for negative reasons. There is a rhythm to life, and a time for every purpose. With the start of the three year cycle to implement the CFM [Child Focused Model], and after nearly 8 years at the helm, it is time for me to turn the page and start a new chapter.”

He added that the process for choosing his successor was "well-advanced", although the "lucky winner" was unlikely to be announced before his retirement date.

Lottie Winson