- National Children’s Bureau (NCB) to work with Verian and Alma Economics to carry out robust evaluation of three DfE-funded new pilots aimed at reducing unnecessary family court delays in England
- A panel of industry leaders and legal experts to work with evaluation consortium collaborating and advising on evaluation process
- NCB to create a series of practice guides to be used by Local Authorities, Designated Family Judges (DFJs), the Courts and NHS-Trusts. These will provide practical advice about how to implement learning from all the pilots and contain findings from the evaluation
- The findings of the evaluation may shape future national strategy on how best to tackle the causes of delay in family court proceedings
The three pilots: the Designated Family Judge Area (DFJ) Trailblazers, trialling Pre-Case Management Hearing (CMH) meetings, and the Suspected Inflicted Head Injury Service (SIHIS), are aimed at addressing separate and specific challenges that cause unnecessary delays to family court proceedings, streamlining processes and providing courts and local authorities with assessment information and resources such as relevant documentation, specialist assessments, and additional meetings earlier on.
Verian, Alma Economics, and NCB bring unique insight and expertise to ensure the delivery of an objective, evidence-driven, and robust evaluation of these pilot programmes.
A panel of five leading experts in the children’s services and family justice systems, led by NCB, will be working closely with the evaluation consortium to directly consult on the evaluation design and key findings that emerge from the programmes.
The evaluation will provide a comprehensive insight into pilot design, delivery, and their impact on court proceedings. The early work of the evaluation partners will be to establish a clear methodology and success criteria for the evaluation. This includes co-designing the evaluation strategy with our different stakeholders, including membership organisations and associations and sector partners working with family courts.
The evaluation is made of three components: an impact; a process and an economic evaluation. The consortium will seek to to understand, refine and monitor the development and delivery of the pilots, understand the early impacts of the pilots including reducing the length of proceedings, and assess the pilots’ value for money.
The consortium will combine quantitative data from surveys and monitoring data with qualitative data from document review, in-depth interviews and workshops. The quantitative data will provide a breadth of insights from across all pilot sites. Qualitative data will provide deeper insights from case study locations. Validation workshops, planned for late 2025, will bring together insights from across the quantitative and qualitative data collected to ensure coherent findings for final reporting.
We expect the evaluation to use data from the HMCTS Core Case Data (CCD) and Cafcass Family Courts data. We will work with DfE, MoJ and Cafcass to assess the availability and suitability of data from each source, and to finalise the process and timetable for accessing data. Similarly, the evaluation will draw on project Management Information for each pilot. The evaluation consortium will work diligently to ensure burden on local authorities and delivery leads is mitigated through the evaluation process.
The team is engaging with wider governmental and sector partners, providing analytical expertise, offering independent advice and guidance, and developing a rigorous and high-quality evaluation approach which is adaptive to the challenges and sensitivities of the children’s social care and family courts sectors.
The evaluation findings and recommendations from the panel will guide NCB in compiling a series of ‘practice guides’ for local authorities, DFJs, family courts and NHS Trusts. This will allow practitioners to learn from the pilots and improve current practice across local authorities, reducing the existing backlog.
The role of the Family Court in the context of Public Law includes protecting those children at risk of suffering significant harm, in particular safeguarding children who it has been determined cannot safely live with their family home.
The most recent data[1] shows that the average time it takes courts to consider and decide on a case exceeds 10 months (standing at 46 weeks), the longest since 2012 and five months over the target set out by the Public Law Outline in 2014. The pilots aim to follow the Public Law Outline and ensure cases are resolved within 26 weeks, tackling drivers of delay.
Our evaluation practice at Verian is thrilled to contribute to these pilots with rigorous and high-quality analysis. Our aim is to provide DfE with actionable insights that not only address unnecessary family court delays but also support strategic decision-making for roll out and future initiatives.
Alex Hurrell
Head of Evaluation Practice, Verian
Delays in family court proceedings can cause unnecessary and unacceptable distress to families and children, as well as put pressure on our vital children’s social care and legal services. It is essential we understand how to reduce them most effectively. We look forward to collaborating with leading experts, local areas, and our evaluation consortium, and sharing findings as they emerge to benefit the sector more broadly. A robust, independent evaluation is the crucial first step towards children spending less of their childhoods waiting for resolution.
Anna Feuchtwang
CEO, National Children's Bureau
In the case of family courts, unnecessary delays can be highly detrimental to families and the most vulnerable in society. We look forward to working with DfE together with Verian and NCB as well as leading sector experts and stakeholders to deliver robust evaluations of the three pilots seeking to tackle this pressing issue: the Designated Family Judge Area Trailblazers, trialling Pre-Case Management Hearing meetings, and the Suspected Inflicted Head Injury Service (SIHIS). These programmes seek to spearhead changes to ensure family court cases are resolved within 26 weeks, the target set by the Public Law Outline (the current average duration is almost twice that). In addition to assisting with the impact evaluation, Alma Economics will lead the economic evaluation, conducting Cost Benefit Analysis of the pilots. This will include estimating the impact of the programmes on children’s well-being and developmental outcomes to capture the full extent of their benefits.
Nick Spyropoulos
Managing Director, Alma Economics
The Reducing Family Court Delays pilot programme represents an opportunity to test new approaches to transform support for the nation’s most vulnerable children and families. Following a competitive process, we have appointed Verian, Alma Economics, and the National Children’s Bureau to evaluate the programmes, and we look forward to seeing their findings.
Department for Education spokesperson
ENDS
Notes to editors
For further information, please contact the National Children’s Bureau media office: [email protected] / 07721 097 033.
For urgent enquiries out of office hours call: 07721 097 033.
About the Pilots
The three pilots build on a number of reviews and strategies indicating serious delays in family court proceedings, including the Family Justice Review (2011) and a 2022 Impact Report. While the statutory timeline through the Public Law Outline for such proceedings is 26 weeks, the national average in March 2023 was 46 weeks[1]. A DfE-commissioned Cafcass/ADCS snapshot survey identified the main drivers of delay as ordering new assessments, number of additional expert assessments required, changes to care plans, and judge availability. These pilots are designed to tackle these drivers.
Supported by Mutual Ventures, the DFJ Trailblazer pilot examines existing challenges to explore possible area-specific solutions, addressing their needs and issues on a localised level.
The pre-CMH meetings take place between a social worker and a child’s Cafcass guardian before a formal CMH. The aim is to collect relevant information in advance of the CMH, to reduce additional hearings and unnecessary delays.
The SIHIS pilot is being delivered by three NHS Trusts, to bring together a panel of paediatric clinicians from different medical fields to assess a child suspected of abusive head trauma, and compile a standard proforma document. This standardised document will provide more thorough and robust information to all stakeholders and may also help to support court proceedings. This process aims to reduce the need for specialist part 25 expert assessments later during proceedings.
The measures tested in the pilots are a part of a wider set of reforms to the children’s social care system and family help, along with:
- Family Hubs and Start for Life (2022 - present)
- Supporting Families Programme (2022-present)
- Reducing Parental Conflict Programme (2022-present)
- Strengthening families, protecting children Programme (2019-2024)
- Families First for Children Pathfinders’ and ‘Family Networks Pilot’ Programmes (2023-present)
About the National Children’s Bureau
For more than 60 years, the National Children’s Bureau has worked to champion the rights of children and young people in the UK. We interrogate policy and uncover evidence to shape future legislation and develop more effective ways of supporting children and families. As a leading children’s charity, we take the voices of children to the heart of Government, bringing people and organisations together to drive change in society and deliver a better childhood for the UK. We are united for a better childhood.
For more information visit www.ncb.org.uk
About Verian
Verian is a world leading, independent research, evidence, evaluation, and communications agency, providing services to government and the public realm. We work with our clients to help solve the next generation of public policy challenges.
With offices across Europe, APAC and in the US, our consultants and researchers are supported by our unique global data ecosystem. We provide gold standard data on the economy and society to decision makers and engage directly with many millions of citizens each year on their behalf. Combining expertise in human understanding with advanced technologies and data science, our work with clients creates policy interventions, designs better public services, and unlocks behaviour change.
We support the rapid development of policy thinking in moments of urgency. We implement policies on the ground. We build communications to reach diverse and complex audiences. We bring global best practice and local expertise.
For more information visit www.veriangroup.com
About Alma Economics
Alma Economics combines unparalleled analytical expertise with the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly. We are a team of economists, data scientists, social researchers, web developers, and creatives working together on some of the most critical issues facing our society today.
For more information visit www.almaeconomics.com