Fixing Family Courts

Chair: Baroness Kitching; Aide; Cllr Nick da Costa (Chair, FCC); Hall Aide; Duncan Brack

Submitted by: 12 Party Members. 
Mover: Jess Brown-Fuller MP (Spokesperson for Justice) 
Summation: To be announced.

Conference notes that:

1. Private law proceedings, which are between parents or family members about child arrangements, were reviewed by the 2020 Harm Panel, but many of its 72 recommendations remain unimplemented.
2. The Family Court Reporting and Reform Mechanism (FCRRM) pilot, in 2024, found that the structural problems identified by the Harm Panel – pro-contact culture, adversarialism, lack of resources, and siloed working – remain widespread.
3. FCRRM data also indicated that domestic abuse is present in 73 per cent of hearings and identified in 87 per cent of case file reviews.
4. Family courts permit evidence from unregulated therapists, raising concerns particularly in cases involving allegations of parental alienation.
5. The ‘Pathfinder’ model, now operating in over 20 English courts and all Welsh family courts, has been described by the President of the Family Division as “more radical, and far more successful, than even its most ardent supporters would have anticipated”.
6. In March 2026, the Government announced plans to remove the presumption of parental involvement through the Courts and Tribunals Bill.

Conference further notes that:

1. Public law proceedings, brought by local authorities over child welfare concerns, have not been the subject of a recent comprehensive review comparable to private law.
2. The 26-week statutory timetable for public law cases has never been consistently met since its introduction in 2014.
3. Around 32 per cent of public law cases have at least one hearing cancelled before it takes place, contributing to delays and wasted resources.

Conference believes that:

1. The previous Conservative Government’s mismanagement of the justice system caused delays in family courts to spiral, letting down children and their families.
2. Under the current Labour Government, private law proceedings continue to under-recognise domestic abuse and coercive control, with serious consequences.
3. Meaningful reform of both private and public law requires full implementation of expert recommendations, improved access to data on system performance and proper resourcing of the family justice system.

Conference calls on the Government to:

1. Improve private law proceedings by:
   1. Completing the national rollout of Pathfinder Courts across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament.
   2. Commissioning an independent review of the implementation of the Harm Panel’s 72 recommendations.
   3. Working with the Judiciary to ensure family judiciary, magistrates, Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) officers and experts in private law proceedings have specialist training in domestic abuse.
   4. Establishing a statutory regulator for therapists.
2. Address data gaps across private and public law proceedings by:
   1. Rolling out the FCRRM for private law proceedings.
   2. Commissioning the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education, with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, Cafcass, local authorities and the judiciary, to develop a joined-up data strategy to improve family court data collection.
   3. Establishing an anonymisation unit to publish anonymised family court judgements.
3. Commission the Family Justice Board to develop a national improvement plan, underpinned by a system-wide assessment of inefficiencies and regional capacity constraints.

Applicability: England and Wales

Mover: 5 minutes; all other speakers: 3 minutes. For eligibility and procedure for speaking in this debate, see page 10 of the agenda. You can submit a speaker's card online here or in person.

The deadline for amendments to this motion is 13.00 Monday 7 September; see pages 11-12 of the agenda for more information.

Those selected for debate will be printed in Conference Extra and Saturday’s Conference Daily. The deadline for requests for separate votes is 09.00 Thursday 17 September; see page 9 of the agenda for more information.