Family Law: Concern over Cafcass recruitment crisis

Kim Beatson, chair of the Solicitors Family Law Association, said early decisions about children's futures were often made in court before they had been allocated a guardian by Cafcass.

Cafcass said it had recruited more than 100 practitioners in the last year, but still had 45 vacant full-time equivalent positions. In its submission last year to a review by the Lord Chancellor's Department Select Committee - which later delivered a highly critical report - Cafcass said it had a budget for another 132 whole-time equivalent practitioners.

NAGALRO, which represents more than 500 children's guardians working for Cafcass, agreed that there were still delays in allocating cases.

Its chair, Alison Paddle, said: "There have been improvements recently because the number of applications to courts has gone down, probably due to the impact of the judicial protocol. But it's quite likely that, come summer, there will be an increase."

The comments came as a report from Her Majesty's Magistrates' Courts Service Inspectorate said that, although courts were generally satisfied with the quality of reports from Cafcass practitioners, there was "growing concern" over delays in the availability of practitioners to take on new referrals.

Cafcass also suffered from a "serious lack of authoritative guidance about frontline practice" and "an absence of reliable liaison" with local authorities.

However, inspectors said most of Cafcass' work was "considered of value and quality".

Cafcass chief executive Jonathan Tross said the report highlighted the progress made in building capacity and developing policies.

- www.mcsi.gov.uk/files/CAFCASS_Overview_2004_final_version_18Mar04.pdf