Cafcass releases its most recent set of figures: private law workload falls
Cafcass, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, saw its public law case load increase but its private law workload decrease in September according to its latest figures.
Public law referrals to Cafcass, which include care and supervision proceedings and adoption orders to safeguard the welfare of children, went up by 7 percent from September 2013 to 902 referrals this September.
This increase goes against a 5 per cent drop to 10,614 in public law referrals to Cafcass between April 2013 and March 2014 compared to the same period the previous year.
Private law referrals, meanwhile, where Cafcass helps the courts decide between warring parents about where children reside and about contact with the other parent, dropped by 25 per cent in September compared to September 2013 with just 2858 new cases.
The drop in September however masks an overall 2 per cent increase in the number of private law referrals to Cafcass between April 2013 and March 2014.
Legal Aid was removed from virtually all private law children’s cases in April 2013 when the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 was implemented. The annual figures show Cafcass and the courts remain busy despite Legal Aid cuts.
