The number of private family law cases referred to the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) jumped by more than a third last month.
Cafcass was asked to intervene in a total of 2,880 cases concerning individual family disputes last month – 34 per cent more than the 2,143 received in May 2014. The latter figure was, however, a record-breaking low for private law cases referred to Cafcass in a single month.
April, by contrast, saw a drop in private law demand: 2,913 cases were referred, down from 3,190 in the same month last year.
The May figure brings the total number of private law disputes referred to Cafcass in the year to date up to 5,793.
Cafcass also intervenes in so-called ‘public law’ family cases – i.e. care proceedings involving local authorities. More than 900 care applications were referred to the service in May, five per cent more than in the same month last year.
