estimated additional 200 family court advisers is based on our calculations which take into account the extra hours required to see more children in person, and the travel time and the associated work involved in seeing and engaging children.

“We are still in discussion with the Ministry of Justice about how this extra capacity could be resourced if the pathfinder model is expanded further, and cannot comment on these discussions while they are ongoing.

Council costs more than twice as high in pathfinder areas
The evaluation report also found that local authority costs in pathfinder areas were more than double those in comparator CAP localities because councils were involved in more cases under the new approach.

In its report, published last month, the public accounts committee recommended that the MoJ, in conjunction with the DfE, publish a plan and timeline for the wider rollout of the pathfinder within the next 12 months.

This should include “an assessment of how the model will affect spending and how it intends to reallocate funding to Cafcass and local authorities as necessary”.

 
 
Cafcass, domestic abuse, family courts, private law, social work recruitment and retention
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