Authored By: Joel Okpa-Iroha
University of Surrey
Abstract
Family courts play a pivotal role in the United Kingdom’s justice system, tasked with handling some of the more delicate and sensitive disputes that society has to offer, hearing cases that can range from divorce, civil partnerships and care proceeding all the way up to more serious cases such as child custody and domestic abuse. They system exists in order to keep families from disputing and, if disputes were to still arrive, to resolve the dispute swiftly to ensure the preservation of the relationship. Unfortunately, due to factors such as the ever-increasing number of cases, the often extremely lengthy proceedings as well as the lack of access to justice, the system has come under much criticism, with many people losing trust and faith in the system, only truly seeing it as a last resort instead of a viable option. This article seeks to explore the failings of the family court system, putting a spotlight on the many delays and the increasing backlog of cases. This article will conclude that the family court system in the United Kingdom requires immediate investment from the government to allow for greater access to resources that could decrease the backlog of cases and hasten justice for all the families that choose to go through this route, which has been implemented through the 2024 spring budget[1].
Background
The single family court that runs to this day was established in the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which would serve to replace the older more antiquated system that was split between the High Court, County Court and the Magistrate’s court. With this single court structure, the family court could handle a bigger variety of cases such as adoption and forced marriage protection.
The Issue of Delayed Justice
Delays have been plaguing the system for many years up to this point, with private child law cases – which involves the decision on where a child will live and who they will have contact to – taking an average of 45 weeks from the months of July to September in the year 2023[2]. These concerning figures have seemingly not changed for the year 2024, with may cases and applications being delayed for weeks on end, slowing down the system as a whole and only serving to give the thousands of children that are involved in these types of cases an uncertain future, one where they do not have a definitive answer as to where they are supposed to live, harming their trust of the system.
The Consequence of Delays – A Backlog of Cases
With these increasing delays comes the inevitability of cases being put on hold for further notice, creating a sizeable backlog of cases. Family law cases commonly involve complex issues that need to be worked through in order to find a suitable resolution that both parties can be satisfied with, but this same complexity only serves as another stumbling block for the system, making the hopes of speeding up the system even harder to achieve due to the amount of time that needs to be invested in each case. With this, the backlog of cases continues to grow, and many families have to wait even longer just to see the justice that they deserve get served.
Access to Justice
Though the issue of access to justice does not just solely affect the legal justice system, there is an increasing trend of people facing deprivation or living in deprived areas finding their options limited due to a lack of access to justice, which can be seen in a report done by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory[3]. Due to the cuts made by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012[4], may people who do not have the finances to get adequate representation are now forced to represent themselves, which puts them at a massive disadvantage and risks the success of their case.
Discussion: What Could be Done
With these problems slowing down the speed of justice down to a crawl, there has been debate on what could be done to get the system back on-track and repair the general public’s faith in the family justice system. One of the major reforms that has been called for is a clear increase in funding for the system itself, with the hopes that an injection of adequate funding will accelerate the progress being made with the mounting backlog of cases, reducing delays. This funding would go towards the hiring of more staff that will be able to handle the large workload that will be mounted upon them, as well as providing better and more modern technology that will streamline the system further. The government has clearly listened to these criticisms and suggestions and has announced an extra £170 million to the justice system[5] in an effort to allow families to resolve their disputes away from the court room, along with making an effort to streamline the system by introducing new technology such as artificial intelligence[6].
This influx of investment will also see more support for vulnerable families facing issues such as domestic abuse and child safety, making family law more accessible to the disadvantaged. These efforts show that the government are indeed making an effort to improve the systematic errors and failures that hinder the system from truly running efficiently and effectively.
Conclusion
The family justice system remains as a crucial fixture in United Kingdom law, but it is not hard to recognise that in order for the system to truly work as intended and to increase the faith people have in the system itself, it must become more efficient and streamlined to combat the years of delays and backlogged cases, along with making the law more accessible to vulnerable people to keep them from being forced to represent themselves. Through an influx of funding, the government plans on rectifying those issues by modernising technology and implementing new ones such as artificial intelligence in order to make the system quicker and more efficient, whilst also changing their approach when it comes to issues such as domestic abuse and child safety, aiming to make it less adversarial in hopes to aid more vulnerable people. With these changes, the family justice system can restore public confidence and uphold justice properly and efficiently.
References
Ministry of Justice, ‘Family disputes to be resolved faster through extra £170 million investment into the justice system’ (Gov.UK, 8th March 2024) – Family disputes to be resolved faster through extra £170 million investment into the justice system – GOV.UK
Shanzeh Haque, ‘Children fall victim to growing crisis in family courts’, (The Law Society, 21st December 2023)- Children fall victim to growing crisis in family courts | The Law Society
[1] Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, ‘What do we know about adults in private family law proceedings?’ [2023] – What do we know about adults in private family law proceedings?
[1] Ministry of Justice, ‘Family disputes to be resolved faster through extra £170 million investment into the justice system’ (Gov.UK, 8th March 2024)
[2] Shanzeh Haque, ‘Children fall victim to growing crisis in family courts’, (The Law Society, 21st December 2023)
[3] Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, ‘What do we know about adults in private family law proceedings?’ [2023], Pg. 1, 5
[4] Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
[5] ibid (n1)
[6] ibid (n1)
