Reducing Delays in Care Proceedings: Improving Pre-Proceeding Practice and Diverting Cases from Courts

Building on the success of the DFJ Trailblazer and Guided Learning programmes, Mutual Ventures has been commissioned by the Department for Education to help all DFJ areas in England participate in the National Learning Support programme. In a series of articles, the Mutual Ventures team summarises the DFJ Area Trailblazer Pilot, sharing insights from the five pilot areas to inform others developing their own solutions. In the fourth article, Ross Murray, explores efforts to improve pre-proceeding practice and divert cases from court.  

The Family Justice System is complex, with persistent delays in proceedings impacting outcomes for children and families. Such delays often leave children waiting for stability and increase pressure on both families and professionals.

The Designated Family Judge Area (DFJ) Trailblazers Pilot Programme was launched to address these delays by helping local authorities in five DFJ areas to identify causes of delay and develop solutions to improve the management of public law care proceedings.

The five Trailblazers were: 

• Central London 

• Cheshire and Merseyside 

• Essex, Suffolk, Southend-On-Sea and Thurrock (ESST) 

• Guildford 

• Wolverhampton 

With support from Mutual Ventures, the Trailblazers addressed shared challenges through solutions spanning five key thematic areas. 

This article provides an overview of the fourth theme: Pre-proceeding practice and diverting cases from courts

Pre-proceeding practice and diversion from court involve out-of-court activities intended to resolve issues before formal court proceedings commence, often by setting out a plan for families or individuals to follow. This includes steps like a letter before proceedings and a Legal Gateway Meeting in childcare cases, where a local authority works with parents to address concerns and avoid court.

This work sits alongside a previous series of blogs exploring critical aspects of managing and supporting families within the Public Law Outline (PLO) process. To address delays, there is a need to look at the journey before a case reaches the courtroom.

Our series highlighted three critical stages:

1. Approaching the threshold: Before proceedings even begin, early intervention is vital. Models such as 'Early Help' hubs, multi-disciplinary formulation (like the 'Rethink Formulation' in Leeds), and the Family Safeguarding Model used in Hertfordshire demonstrate that refocusing resources on root causes can prevent families from reaching the threshold for statutory intervention. 

2. Entering pre-proceedings: Once the threshold is met, the goal isn't just a smooth court process, but effective diversion. This requires robust tracking systems to prevent 'case drift', as seen in Swansea’s redefined process with clear legal planning triggers, as well as shared Family Group Decision Making models like Family Group Conferences (FGCs), which research shows can significantly reduce the likelihood of care proceedings. 

3. Assessments and support: Finally, dynamic assessments and tailored interventions, such as those found in Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDAC), are essential. These ensure that if proceedings are necessary, they are supported by high-quality evidence that truly reflects the family's capacity for change. 

Existing challenge

Despite these known models of good practice, pre-proceedings practice varies significantly between local authorities, resulting in inconsistencies in both the quality and outcomes of these processes. This means some families get better support than others.  

Staff shortages make things worse. There is often a need to bring in independent or expert social workers, but their assessments can be of mixed quality and cause extra delays. This lack of consistency makes it harder to make quick, good decisions for children and families.

Another problem is that the PLO pre-proceedings step is sometimes treated as a formality, instead of a real chance to help families and avoid going to court. When this happens, families miss out on the support they need early on to prevent things escalating to court. 

Good pre-proceedings should mean families get thorough assessments, strong support from social workers, and access to legal advice. In reality, this full support is not always given, so families might end up in court without the right help.

Finally, when social workers are too busy or don’t have enough experience, they may spot complex needs, such as parents with learning difficulties, too late. This means specialist help comes too late to make a real difference, especially in cases involving babies.

What did the Trailblazers do?

In ESST, the area established best practices and tools through a PLO tracking working group, including developing shared principles and a 'Seeking Clarity' process. This process was introduced to improve coordination between social workers and CAFCASS Guardians, requiring pre-hearing meetings to agree on assessment needs and case management plans. This initiative also targeted Part 25 applications, fostering trust in social worker assessments and reducing unnecessary additional assessments.

Central London recognised that practitioners often lack time to read lengthy policy documents, so the Trailblazer team developed a digital ‘good practice guide’ and an AI assistant chatbot. The tool allowed social workers to ask specific questions and receive answers from verified guidance. They also created a pre-proceedings animation video narrated by parents with lived experience. This resource was designed to explain the process simply to families and is being translated into eight languages.

Additionally, in Guildford, by unifying social work and legal data into a single tracker, the area reduced unnecessary court interventions. The alignment of trackers was mainly aimed at improving data tracking and governance within the council. Initially, the information in the two trackers often did not align, meaning the council did not have one version of the truth on key factors like the duration of pre-proceedings or the need for a short-notice hearing. This had caused delays in handling cases and confusion as to whether a hearing needed to be scheduled at short notice. In response, they cleaned up previous resources and made a single spreadsheet that was easy to use. This process led them to notice several other issues, such as auto-tracking on the case management system not being correct. They were able to work with HMCTS to resolve these.

Lessons Learnt

The experience of the Trailblazers provided vital learning points for any DFJ area looking to improve the quality of pre-proceedings and reduce reliance on court-driven assessments.

• Front-loading quality reduces delay: Investing in high-quality, comprehensive, and timely assessments during the pre-proceedings phase reduces the need for late, costly, and potentially delaying expert assessments once proceedings have begun. This is a direct mechanism for helping the system meet the 26-week statutory timeframe. 

• In-house expertise drives consistency and cost-effectiveness: By drawing social workers from partner local authorities to staff the hub, the area retains valuable knowledge and skills locally. This dedicated, senior-led service can standardise parenting and fostering assessments, eliminating the inconsistency often associated with commissioning multiple independent social workers or external experts. 

• Clear oversight raises standards: Dedicated senior leadership and robust quality assurance processes are essential to ensure assessments are consistently of a high standard and evidentially sound. This oversight builds confidence in the court and supports better, earlier decision-making.

  
  

Impact

In ESST, the implementation of the Seeking Clarity process empowered social workers to demonstrate their capability to complete assessments, rather than automatically deferring to external experts. This approach boosted the confidence of the local authority workforce and curtailed the defensive practice of ordering unnecessary expert reports. As a result, there was a noticeable reduction in Part 25 applications, which directly translated into cost savings for the local authority due to fewer commissioned external experts.

Central London saw tangible improvements following the introduction of the AI assistant and digital good practice guide. These tools provided social workers with instant access to verified guidance, leading to higher quality Section 31 statements and reducing the number of adjournments for addendum reports. The pre-proceedings animation, available in eight languages, bridged the confusion gap for parents, enabling them to better understand the process and engage more effectively. This enhanced clarity led to increased early resolutions and, in some cases, prevented the need for court altogether. The availability of modern, efficient tools also helped to alleviate practitioner burnout and contributed to greater staff retention.

In Guildford, unifying legal and social work data into a single tracker resolved previous discrepancies and established a reliable version of the truth. The identification and correction of inaccurate data meant that resources could be allocated more effectively, eliminating the need to hire staff for a backlog that had not existed. With the stabilisation of the court diary and fewer emergency hearings, judges were able to dedicate more time to complex cases. The improved tracking system enabled proactive case management, helping the area consistently meet the 26-week limit and achieve better timeliness in national reporting.

For more information on the work to improve pre-proceeding practice see this webinar and our related articles on approaching the threshold and entering pre-proceedings.

What is happening next?

Improvement in Family Justice is an ongoing journey, and the value of collaboration and shared purpose is clear.

The National Learning Support Programme is now open to all DFJ areas, offering support to identify challenges and co-design solutions. If you’d like to join the next cohort, starting in January 2026, contact kate.copeland@mutualventures.co.uk.