Family Proceedings
(asked on 29th October 2026) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in the past five years, how many private-law Children Act cases were heard by (a) district judges, (b) deputy district judges, (c) circuit judges, (d) High Court judges, (e) magistrates.
The following table shows the number of private-law Children Act cases concluded in each period, by the judicial role recorded at disposal:
Period | Magistrates | District Judges | Deputy District Judges | Circuit Judges | High Court Judges |
Jul 21-Jun 22 | 12,471 | 11,694 | 4,390 | 2,800 | 66 |
Jul 22-Jun 23 | 13,945 | 13,409 | 4,392 | 3,406 | 74 |
Jul 23-Jun 24 | 13,827 | 14,675 | 4,283 | 3,856 | 74 |
Jul 24-Jun 25 | 12,717 | 15,203 | 4,476 | 3,790 | 139 |
Jul 25-Jun 26 | 12,352 | 15,401 | 4,481 | 3,566 | 142 |
Judges at different levels may have made case management decisions at earlier stages of a case.
Where available, data has been published up to June 2026, the latest published data. Otherwise, the data provided is up to the end of December 2025.