Mapping out data to increase family courts transparency

About the study

NatCen was commissioned by the President of the Family Division (PFD) of the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary to investigate and map the available data in the family justice system across England and Wales. This mapping exercise focused on data that could answer six key questions identified by the Data Strategy sub-group of the PFD:

1. What has happened to a family before they come to court?
2. Who comes to court?
3. What are families’ experiences of court?
4. How is the family court operating?
5. What decisions are being made about children?
6. What are the immediate and ultimate outcomes of those decisions?

This work aims to support efforts to increase the transparency of family courts.

Findings

We found that current family justice data provides very limited options to answer the six key questions. Some data is not being captured at all, some data is being captured in a way that is difficult to use (for example because it only exists in case files), and there is a lack of routine and timely data linkage to other sources.

In particular, we found that there is a notable absence of data on the support provided to families before they enter court proceedings. Information on what happens to families after court decisions are made is also very limited and relies on work by researchers that is difficult to do as part of routine practice.

Our findings underscore the critical need for a system-wide data strategy to ensure regular access to information in the family justice system. Such a strategy is essential for transparency, routinely answering the six key questions, and improving outcomes.

Methodology

NatCen conducted desk research and stakeholder interviews with individuals from the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, Cafcass England, Cafcass Cymru, HM Courts & Tribunals Service, Ministry of Justice, and the Department for Education.