Cafcass – the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service – has seen a ten per cent decline in private law cases over the last six months.
Meanwhile, care applications also declined, dropping by thee per cent in March.
The service, which works to support children involved in family disputes and care proceedings, received 46,495 new private family cases in the year to March 2014. However, while the number of new cases increased by 15 per cent between April and September last year, they then dropped by ten per cent compared to the same period the previous year between October and March. Over the same period, demand fell every month from October onwards.
The number of private cases received during March – 3,676 – was a seven per cent drop on March 2013. During the same month, Cafcass received 910 care applications – three per cent fewer than in March 2013.
