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England-and-Wales to renew focus on family court delays
Sir Andrew McFarlane (President of the Family Division of England and Wales) Pic: Cian Redmond
23 Aug 2024 britain Print

England-and-Wales to renew focus on delays

The England-and-Wales Family Division president has said that progress in cutting delays is only slowly improving.

In his latest View from the President’s Chambers, Sir Andrew McFarlane (pictured) has said the number of care and supervision proceedings concluding within the statutory 26-week timetable was improving, but progress is slow with unacceptable backlogs.

Volume of cases

McFarlane has previously attributed the delays to the growing volume of cases and the pandemic.

One of the targets will relate to issue resolution hearings (IRH), McFarlane said.

Statistics show that just 5% of cases were substantially or fully resolved at the IRH stage, meaning 95% of cases needed a final hearing.

In October, McFarlane will ‘reinvigorate’ a template formula for case management with data showing progress to date.

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