Local authorities invited to submit applications for designated family judge trailblazer pilot

The pilot is aimed at reducing delays in public law proceedings in the family court.

In public law, the annual national average for the time children spend in the family justice system over 2021 to 2023 is 46 weeks, when the statutory requirement is 26 weeks.

In November 2022, the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane reiterated the need for practitioners to “reconnect with the core principles of the Public Law Outline”, to ensure that the statutory requirement of completing each case within 26 weeks is met once again.

The Department for Education (DfE) revealed that the DFJ pilot will involve local authorities from five selected designated family judge areas working with a delivery partner to “co-design and implement solutions to reduce court delays”.

Drawing on recent research which gathered evidence on the root cause of delays, the DfE noted that “a whole system approach is needed” in order to achieve a substantial reduction in court delays.

It added: “To achieve this, and mitigate individual agencies working in silos, the pilot will involve a Delivery Partner working directly with local authorities from 5 selected DFJ Trailblazer areas.”

It noted that the Delivery Partner will undertake a “deep-dive analysis” to diagnose the causes of delay within each area and will co-design solutions to these causes of delay.

“Solutions should focus on aligning system governance, improving pre-proceedings data and practice, creating vehicles and incentives for multi-agency collaboration and helping children and families to navigate the system”, the DfE added.

The pilot will run from January 2024 until March 2025.

From April 2024, local authorities from the five areas will implement the solutions with support from the Delivery Partner, “with a view to achieving a substantial reduction in court delays”.

The deadline for local authorities to submit their applications is midday on 17 November 2023.