Care proceedings taking less time, with more disposals within 26 weeks compared to same time last year: Family Court Statistics Quarterly

The Quarterly Statistics, published last week (25 September), reveal that the average time for a care or supervision case to reach disposal was 38 weeks in April to June 2025, down 3 weeks compared to the same quarter in 2024.

There were 7,123 individual children involved in new public law applications in April to June 2025, up 9% on the same quarter in the previous year, while the number of orders applied for increased by 10%.

In April to June 2025, public law care applications made up 65% of public law orders applied for (3,180).

Looking at public law open caseloads, the data shows there were 10,192 total open public law cases at the end of June 2025, down from 10,338 at the end of June 2024, a fall of 1%.

Two thirds (66% or 6,727) of the open caseload at the end of June 2025 had been open for less than 26 weeks, whereas 198 cases (2%) had been open for 90 weeks or longer.

Looking at deprivation of liberty statistics for under 18-year-olds, the data reveals that 357 children were subject to deprivation of liberty (DoL) applications, which authorise the deprivation of a child’s liberty in an unregulated secure placement.

This is a 12% increase on the 320 DoL applications for the previous quarter (January – March 2025) and is nearly 20% higher than the 299 applications for the equivalent quarter last year (April - June 2024).

Commenting on the data, Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (NFJO) said: “The data this quarter reflects the continuing and extensive usage of Deprivation of Liberty orders, which began to be tracked by the MoJ two years ago in Q3, 2023. This data is critical to shed light on the persistent use of DoLs within the family justice system, but it is limited in what it can tell us about the children who are deprived of their liberty.

“Information about ethnicity or disability are not routinely collected, nor are the factors leading to deprivation of liberty (such as mental health or criminal exploitation) systematically recorded. This means that it is impossible to understand how different groups of children may be overrepresented in the DoLs population, what different pathways to a Deprivation of Liberty order may look like for different groups, and how best to develop supports to prevent DoLs orders.”

For those over 18, there were 2,141 applications relating to deprivation of liberty under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 made in the most recent quarter (April – June).

Meanwhile, the quarterly statistics on adoption show that in April to June 2025 there were 903 adoption applications, down 17% on the equivalent quarter in 2024. The number of adoption orders issued also decreased by 13% to 969.

There were 1,898 total disposals in April to June 2025, a decrease of 10% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024.

Helen Lincoln, Chair of the ADCS Families, Communities & Young People Policy Network, said: “Delays in the family courts are a long running issue due to multiple contributing factors, from the availability of judges and court space to the profile of, and investment in, family courts.

“The pandemic intensified these challenges and the system is yet to recover. The Public Accounts Committee recently highlighted the absence of dedicated investment or a coherent plan to tackle backlogs in the family courts.

“The incremental process on timeliness for the most recent period (April-June) speaks to the dedication and efforts of everyone in the family court system, from court staff and judges to local authority social workers and legal staff, to improve outcomes for children.

“For our part, we are seeing the complexity of cases increase, some with linked criminal court proceedings, needing to undertake international family assessments or listing delays, requiring assessments and reports to be redone or updated.

“Our main aim should always be meeting the individual needs of a child or young person, even if this falls outside of the 26-week limit.”

The Department for Education (DfE) has been approached for comment.

Lottie Winson