Family/Children Law: A London (Firms) Overview

Improving Outcomes for Children and Families in the Family Justice System in England and Wales

Throughout 2025, there has been an emphasis on continuing to achieve better outcomes for children and families. The official statistics from Cafcass for the quarterly period from April to July 2025 show that there has been an increase in new public and private law cases compared to the same period of 2024 (by 8% in public law children cases and by 2.5% in children law cases).

Results of Pathfinder pilot scheme

Figures published by the Ministry of Justice on 3 February 2025 show that the Pathfinder pilot in private law children cases (which was started in Dorset and North Wales in February 2022) has resulted in family court backlogs being halved and cases being resolved faster (11 weeks faster than previously in both areas). Practice Direction 36Z sets out the new steps. The aim of the scheme is to avoid children and families going through several court hearings (with the associated inherent delay) by truncating the process.

It works by bringing together local authorities, police and support services to gather and share information on cases as early as possible. The investigations by Cafcass before the first court hearing are more in-depth than previously and children’s voices are heard at the beginning. A Child Impact Report is then produced. If the judge considers that a case has been investigated properly, the first court hearing will be the final hearing. In cases involving domestic abuse, the court will consider whether there should be a fact-finding hearing.

This model is now live in South-East Wales, South-West Wales, Swansea, Birmingham, and West Yorkshire. It is hoped by ministers and the senior judiciary that, funding permitted, all court centres will move onto this model eventually ‒ although it is not known when. The UK government’s Family Mediation Voucher Scheme will also be extended to March 2026.

Supporting neurodivergent people in the family justice system

In January 2025, the president of the Family Division urged lawyers to adopt landmark guidance produced by the Family Justice Council, designed to support neurodivergent people in the family justice system. An estimated 15% of people are neurodivergent. They might face difficulties in court proceedings when it comes to processing information quickly and following proceedings. They might become flustered or agitated when giving evidence, leading to them not being able to give their best evidence.

The guidance contains questions aiming to identify neurodivergence in a person. It gives examples of adjustments that can be made ‒ for example, changing the method of communication, using shorter sentences, and avoiding black writing on a white background. Adjustments to the environment could be removing a loudly ticking clock and adjusting the lighting. There are also suggestions for structure and timing adjustments in court hearings, such as regular breaks, as well as using visual aids to explain the timetable for proceedings.

Communication between judges and children

On 26 February 2025, the president of the Family Division published Writing to Children – a Toolkit for Judges, aimed at private and public law children cases. It is based on a collaboration between the judiciary, children and young people, and professionals who work with the family justice system. The president said: “The collaboration did a great deal to break down the factors that may have inhibited judges in the past. To get past “blank page” inertia, the content of a typical letter is built up, sentence by sentence, with suggestions, explanations and examples, and the whole is rounded off with worked up examples.”

Cafcass updates domestic abuse practice policy

In January 2025, Cafcass published an update to its domestic abuse practice policy (introduced in September 2024) for Cafcass practitioners. The previous version, published in October 2024, was withdrawn.

The policy contains 42 practice points to be considered by practitioners. In situations where a parent has a conviction for an offence in relation to domestic abuse (including coercive control) or violence or for a sexual offence, or there is an ongoing police investigation, practitioners must consider that the adult presents a risk of significant harm to the child and the main carer. There must be an analysis of the risk of harm and how this affects the advice regarding contact and/or “live with” arrangements.

There are to be no more references to domestic abuse “claims” or “allegations” or other references that minimise domestic abuse; words such as “historical abuse” or “one-off incident” show a lack of understanding of trauma. When assessing whether interim arrangements are safe, practitioners must assess any “unmanageable risk of harm”, taking into account the specific definition of domestic abuse and the impact of that abuse on the child and the carer.

New guidance on parental alienation

In December 2024, new guidance from the Family Justice Council on responding to a child’s unexplained reluctance or refusal to spend time with a parent ‒ as well as to allegations of alienating behaviour ‒ was issued for the judiciary and those working in the family justice system. The guidance confirms there is no diagnosable “syndrome” of parental alienation and gives very helpful steps to follow where a child is reluctant or refusing to see a parent. It restates that decisions of fact relating to allegations of alienating behaviour or domestic abuse are a judicial function. Guidance is also provided on tackling the interplay between allegations of alienating behaviour alongside domestic abuse and centralises the voice of the child.

Reporting and recording in family court

The Family Court Reporting Pilot closed and, from 27 January 2025, became a permanent feature in the family court. The full roll-out in children cases was completed in September 2025, with the Express Financial Remedy Pilot continuing. Accredited media representatives and legal bloggers are permitted to attend court and observe child-related family proceedings. A transparency order will be made in most cases, allowing them to report what they see and hear on an anonymised basis. The president of the Family Division called it “a watershed moment for family justice, the aim of which is to improve “public understanding and confidence” in the family courts”.

Practice Direction 27B deals with media attendance at court. There will be exceptions ‒ for example, in RC v FP (2025) EWFC 123, the court determined that there were obvious and serious risks to the child’s welfare from relaxing reporting restrictions in connection with the proceedings and that the public interest in reporting this case did not outweigh the risk to the child.

The increased use of covert recordings in family law proceedings led the Family Justice Council to publish Guidance on Covert Recordings in Family Law Proceedings Concerning Children on 15 May 2025. It sets out guidance for professionals and litigants in person about how the court will approach covert recordings and the issues regarding admissibility. In summary, be very careful because a covert recording may well backfire on the person who made it.

Strain on legal aid practitioners

Against the background of these developments, legal aid firms ‒ who are the lynchpin of access to advice and representation for vulnerable people ‒ have been left in a precarious position after the cyber-attack/data breach involving the Legal Aid Agency’s online digital services in April 2025. This has added to the significant strain on legal aid practitioners. Cases are taking longer to deal with administratively, as practitioners are not able to access records and a backlog of payments is causing cash-flow issues for already-stretched firms.

The Legal Aid Agency has said its systems “could” be back online in September 2025, as a new system is being built to replace the compromised system. However, this is not guaranteed.