Our work in the family justice system

On this page:

Regional family leads
Speeding up care proceedings cases
Local Family Justice Councils
Working with the Judiciary
Working with CAFCASS
Mediation

Regional family leads

Each LSC region has dedicated family leads. See Documents for the list.

Speeding up care proceedings cases

The government has a target to complete care proceedings cases within 40 weeks from application to court to final hearing.

This is alongside the Public Law Outline pilot implemented in Apr 08.

The family court target continues to focus on the government target.

This is to complete care proceedings cases within 40 weeks from application to court or initial case conference to final hearing; alongside the Public Law Outline.

Local Family Justice Councils

We now have membership of 34 Local Family Justice Councils (LFJC), with 6 outstanding.

LFJC membership has lead to:

increased credibility for the LSC
briefings by our regional leads on the:
-new fee schemes
-experts pilot
to promote mediation.

Working with the Judiciary

The judiciary are key to success.

They control the courts’ systems that have a direct impact on the legal aid budget, such as:

court listings
the instruction of experts.

Building and maintaining relationships is a priority for our regional leads, although it can at times be a challenge.

Working with CAFCASS

CAFCASS can have a similar level of impact on the legal aid budget. It is important they understand our reform programme and what we are trying to achieve.

We have been establishing and building on our relationships with CAFCASS at both a national and regional level.

Mediation

We are promoting mediation in a variety of ways, including:

sending information packs to providers
various focus groups and workshops.

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Last updated: 21 November 2008