Children and families are being let down, an inquiry into improving family court services for children by the Public Accounts Committee has found.
The final report, published today, lists six recommendations for the government to consider urgently in order to bring down unacceptable wait times and improve inefficient processes.
Welcoming the report, Chair of the Bar Council Barbara Mills KC said: "Due to chronic under-funding, the family justice system has been failing vulnerable children. Those failures are inimical to the welfare of the children the system seeks to protect.
We are pleased to see a comprehensive set of recommendations to combat the myriad of issues plaguing the system, and ensure timely, effective, sustainable child-centred justice.
The recommendations echo many of the issues and solutions we highlighted in our submissions to the Public Accounts Committee. I am pleased to see the focus on improving processes to monitor and achieve quicker and more positive outcomes, including the expansion of properly resourced Pathfinder courts, further support for litigants in person and improved use of data.
The government has a choice. These recommendations provide a roadmap to change but they will not bear the fruit which children, families and those working across the court system need to see and feel without comprehensive investment in family justice.”