Justice minister explores parenting programmes to sort out household courts backlog
Justice minister Lord Ponsonby is in discussions with a company running courses for mums and dads to learn more about the use of parenting support to help with conflict management
Ministers are exploring the use of parenting programmes to inform their policies on tackling the family courts backlog.
Justice minister Lord Ponsonby is in discussions with a company running courses for mums and dads to learn more about the use of parenting support. The firm, Triple P, already works with more than two thirds of English local authority areas and provides services for the Department for Work and Pensions’ Reducing Parental Conflict programme.
It comes as officials continue to build on the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) Pathfinder pilot scheme, which supports separating families to resolve conflict without having to go through hostile hearings. The scheme brings together local authorities, police and support services to gather and share information on cases as early as possible.
It was expanded to mid and west Wales earlier this month and will extend to West Yorkshire in June. The pilot launched in Dorset and north Wales in February 2022 and was expanded to south east Wales and Birmingham last year.
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Cases are being resolved 11 weeks quicker, with the backlog of cases reduced by 50%, across both Dorset and North Wales. The Government’s family mediation vouchers scheme, which provides £500 to help couples settle issues before they get to court, has also been extended to March 2026.
Parents and legal experts have long warned about lengthy court processes causing irreversible damage to children. Family court cases often involve complex issues related to children, finances and the breakdown of family relationships, with some cases taking more than a year to be resolved. During the pandemic, the average time for a private family law children case to complete increased from 32.3 weeks in 2020 to 40.5 weeks in 2021.
Ministers have encouraged the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) to help more families undertake in-court parenting programmes earlier in the court process, as well as making pre-court parenting programmes the norm for families trying to reach an agreement over child arrangements.
The MoJ is not currently planning to include Triple P in the family courts but plans to meet with the company and the DWP again in the future.
Last month Lord Ponsonby, the Minister for Family Justice, said “early evidence” was showing that Pathfinder is working. He described it as a “less adversarial approach”, adding: “For too long families have been pitted against each other in the court room, or abusers have hijacked proceedings to continue campaigns of cruelty. Children and vulnerable people bear the brunt of this, and it must stop.”
Matt Buttery, chief executive of Triple P UK, said: “Divorce is a complex and profoundly emotional process that affects not just the couple involved, but also their children. To aid this process, magistrates can mandate Non-Court Dispute Resolution activities, such as mediation and separated parent programmes.
“We know that conflict between parents is bad for children and these activities, including Triple P’s Family Transitions Online, put the welfare and wellbeing of children front and centre within the legal process. They also allow the judicial system to focus on the cases that cannot be resolved through alternative means, cutting down on expensive litigation and freeing up space within the family courts.”
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