Family Courts

(asked on 10th June 2019) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many private law cases were referred to the Family Courts in which (a) both, (b) one and (c) neither parent or carer were represented by a solicitor in each of the last five years.


Answered by
Paul Maynard Portrait
Paul Maynard
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 18th June 2019

The number of unrepresented parties in private law Children Act case starts are shown in the table below:

Table 1: Annual number of private law cases starting in Family Courts in England and Wales from 2014 to 2018 in which both, one or neither party had legal representation

Year

Total number of cases started

Parties with legal representation

Both applicant and respondent

Either applicant or respondent

Neither applicant nor respondent

2014

42,114

7,424

18,630

16,060

2015

43,347

7,654

18,500

17,193

2016

48,246

8,262

20,048

19,936

2017

50,652

8,303

20,497

21,852

2018

51,672

8,561

20,346

22,765

Notes:

1) An applicant party is considered 'represented' if at least one applicant has a recorded representative. Likewise for respondents.

2) Parties in private law cases are usually the parents or people with parental responsibility for the child/children involved. Others, including grandparents and carers, can apply after gaining permission from the court.

3) Private law adoptions are not included

Since 2015, we have invested almost £6.5million in a support strategy for unrepresented parties. This provides practical support and information as well as routes to free or more affordable legal advice. Public funding remains available for parents in public law Children Act proceedings where a local authority seeks an order to place a child in care or under its supervision, and in private law Children Act cases where there is evidence of domestic or child abuse.

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