According to information from the UK’s National Audit Office, in 2024 approximately 1,200 children had to wait over a year for their case to be resolved. 

This was a 17-fold increase over a seven-year period. The average duration of proceedings brought by local authorities to protect a child from harm was 36 weeks last year. The time limit for proceedings was set at 26 weeks in 2014.

As a result, 12% of cases took over one year to be completed. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the chair of the House of Commons public accounts committee, commented: “Too many children are suffering as a result of delays to family court proceedings, which are currently still far too long. The longer a case remains unresolved, the more likely it is that there are further delays, increasing the risk of harm to children and driving up public costs.”

The government have been urged to do more to tackle delays which result in children waiting longer for permanent care, increasing the risk of harm, anxiety, instability and disrupted friendships or education.

In December 2024 there were more than 4,000 children in England and Wales in family court proceedings lasting two years.

In December, nearly two-thirds of the 4,000 cases that had been open for 100 weeks or longer were in London and the south-east. London had an average duration of 53 weeks for cases brought by local authorities and 70 weeks for cases brought by parents.

The delay in progressing cases often leads to a significant increase in costs as evidence and assessment have to be updated. Average spending on legal aid for a case brought by a local authority doubled between 2018 and 2022 from approximately £6,000 to about £12,000.

A lack of judicial staff is one reason for the delays. Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, commented: “Many cases still take too long to complete and further action is needed to remove the barriers to a more efficient system, including poor-quality data and fragmented decision-making.”

In response a spokesperson for the government said that it had inherited a justice system in crisis, adding: “We are working hard to improve their experience in the family courts further by expanding the successful pathfinder pilot, which has already reduced case times by 11 weeks, and investing £500m in early intervention. Cases are now moving faster.”

Comment 

The statistics are very concerning and add to the instability many vulnerable children have already experienced. Responsibilities for family justice are fragmented, with no single body responsible for overall performance. The process of overhauling the system and reducing the average length of proceedings will be a long process with no guarantee of success.