Our work in the family justice system

On this page:

Regional family leads
Speeding up care proceedings cases
Local Family Justice Councils
Working with the Judiciary
Working with CAFCASS and CAFCASS Cymru
Mediation

In 2009-10, our national focus within the family justice system is on improving the experience of domestic abuse survivors and promoting the effective use of mediation.

Regional family leads

Each LSC region has dedicated family leads. See Documents for the list.

Speeding up care proceedings cases

The government has a target to complete care proceedings cases within 40 weeks from application to court to final hearing.

This is alongside the Public Law Outline pilot implemented in Apr 08. We are supporting the PLO through the availibility of pre-proceeding legal advice at level 2. We have a seat on the steering group which is monitoring the implementation and evaluation of the PLO.

Local Family Justice Councils

We now have membership of all Local Family Justice Councils (LFJC).

LFJC membership has lead to:

increased credibility and influence for the LSC
briefings by our regional leads on:
- LSC consultations
- the experts pilot
promotion of mediation
membership of LFJC regional sub-groups and steering groups including performance, domestic violence and the Welsh Assesmbly Government.

Working with the Judiciary

The judiciary are key to successfully improving the efficiency of the justice system.

They control the courts’ systems that have a direct impact on the legal aid budget, such as:

court listings
the instruction of experts.

Building and maintaining relationships is a priority for our regional leads, although it can be challenging.

Working with CAFCASS and CAFCASS Cymru

CAFCASS can have a similar level of impact on the legal aid budget. It is important they understand our funding constraints and arrangements, our reform programme and what we are trying to achieve.

We have been establishing and building on our relationships with CAFCASS at both a national and regional level.

Mediation

We are promoting mediation in a variety of ways, including:

sending information packs to providers
various focus groups and workshops
working with Cafcass on mediation suitability assessments (including as a contact direction) and on the provision of information regarding the public funding of mediation to Cafcass staff.

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Last updated: 08 May 2009