Children and families are being failed by long delays in the family justice system, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned, with impacts felt particularly in social care.
Average case durations remain well above the 26-week statutory limits, with over 4,000 children involved in cases lasting more than 100 weeks as of December 2024, according to the PAC report.
Shortages of district judges and social workers, especially in London and the South East, are also contributing to regional disparities.
The report calls for urgent Government action to clarify how the additional £2bn investment in children’s social care will support families, improve local workforce capacity, and enable more timely interventions.
The committee also recommends wider rollout of the Pathfinder pilot, which aims to reduce court hearings and improve outcomes for children, particularly domestic abuse victims. It said this would shift costs away from courts towards local authorities, adding that a reallocation of funding to support local authority social work capacity would be needed.
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