Annual Report 2006-2007 - Cafcass

Private law
Our approach to working with families in private law
continues to change, as the President’s Private Law
Programme continues to develop. This advocates a First
Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment (FHDRA) to be
held between four and six weeks after an application is
issued. For most cases this includes a dispute resolution
session using Cafcass practitioners.
We have worked with the courts and the judiciary to
introduce dispute resolution schemes in family courts
throughout the country in an effort to avoid contested
hearings. We are working hard towards our goal to
invest the time in working directly with families to reach
agreement where it is safe to do so, thereby reducing
conflict, rather than writing lengthy reports for court.
Research has shown that ongoing conflict within a family
is damaging for children, which is why we are making
this investment.
In 2006–07 our practitioners participated in 26,344
dispute resolution meetings, spending 57,880 hours on
these cases. This is an increase in time spent on early
intervention of 33.6%.
“In 2006–07 the time we spent on early
intervention increased by 33.6%.”
Where agreements cannot be reached through dispute
resolution, the court may order a full report on the welfare
of a child or children involved in private law proceedings.
This is done under Section 7 of the Children Act 1989 and
the court will clarify the specific areas for the FCA to cover
in their report. A private law case can involve more than
one type of order and frequently leads to more than one
Section 7 report.
We responded to 23,942 requests for private law reports
during 2006–07, compared with 26,144 in 2005–06,
a reduction of 8.4%. This suggests that our dispute
resolution work as an early intervention measure is
becoming more successful and is supported by the fact
that around 60% of our interventions are achieving full
or partial agreement. This represents a major shift to
preventative work across the entire English family justice
system. Figure 2 provides an overview of private law
demand over the past three financial years.
When a child is involved in a particularly complex and/or
protracted private law case, he or she can be separately
represented by an FCA, under Rule 9.5 of the Family
Proceedings Rules (1991). The demand for this type of
case has remained consistently high over the past three
years. In 2006–07, we responded to a total of 1,206 cases,
compared with 1,035 in 2005–06, an increase of 16.5%.
Evidence is coming through that Rule 9.5 is an effective
measure in resolving disputes and supporting children in
some of our most complex private law cases.
Cafcass is also involved in Family Assistance Orders
(FAOs) at the end of proceedings as a way of providing
social work support to families experiencing difficulties
after separation or divorce. We responded to 351 Family
Assistance Orders during 2006–07, compared with 645
in 2005–06. It may be that greater use of Rule 9.5 and the
impact of our early dispute resolution work have meant
that courts are making fewer FAOs for direct work
with families.
Figure 2: Private law demand 2006–07
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Private law reports
Total time spent on dispute resolutions
2004–05 2005–06 2006–07
| Cafcass Annual Report and Accounts 2006–07