CAFCASS delays

Following the case of Baby P there has been a surge of applications for care orders and there are still unacceptable delays in allocating guardians to children and writing reports for court by CAFCASS across the country. The Times gave the following examples: Basingstoke – 15 weeks, Southampton – 16 weeks, Aldershot – 17 weeks, Bournemouth – 17 weeks, Gloucester – 20 weeks and rising Portsmouth – 22 weeks, Bristol – 26 to 34 weeks, Trowbridge – 34 to 40 weeks. Speaking at the President’s Annual Judicial Conference, the President of the Family Division, Sir Mark Potter, expressed his concern ‘at the sudden and continuing surge in care applications following the publicity given to the Baby P case. This has resulted in a large block of cases which will require to be processed over the next 12 months through a system already strained to the utmost and, unless something is done, (by which I mean additional resources found for an increase in judges and judge days – of which there is presenting no prospect). The delays in the system are bound to increase as the cases stack up, and the PSA 40-week targets for care cases will become increasingly impractical of achievement. We can only do our best by careful and efficient case management, and allocation of business to contain the damage.’