Care Proceedings

(asked on 12th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of care proceedings cases have not been heard within the six month limit in each of the last three years.


Answered by
Alex Chalk Portrait
Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This question was answered on 19th November 2020

Information relating to the time to the first definitive disposal for care proceedings is published by the Ministry of Justice on a quarterly basis. The table below details the latest published statistics on the total number of disposals in care proceedings, the mean and medial disposal duration (in weeks), and the proportion of disposals made within 26 weeks, in each of the last three years.

The number of disposals relates to the number of children subject to a disposal outcome. The following outcomes are considered as disposals for the purposes of these statistics:

  • The making of a Care Order, Supervision Order, Residence order or Special Guardianship Order;
  • A decision by the court to make no order; and
  • The withdrawal of an application.

The latest Family Courts Statistics Quarterly publication can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2020

Year

Total Disposals

Mean disposal duration (weeks)

Median disposal duration (weeks)

% disposed in 26 weeks

2017

26,221

28.2

25.3

57%

2018

25,849

30.4

26.4

49%

2019

23,837

33.2

29.6

41%

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