Reducing Delays in Care Proceedings: Lessons from the Trailblazer Pilot Programme on Enabling Multi-Agency Collaboration

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 third article, Ross Murray, explores efforts to strengthen multi-agency collaboration.

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 third theme: Creating vehicles and incentives for multi-agency collaboration.

Creating effective support for the different partner agencies and stakeholders work together towards a shared vision.

Existing challenges

One of the most mentioned issues in the family justice system is siloed working.! In some ways, this is unsurprising as the system involves multiple agencies, professionals, and processes, each playing a crucial role in resolving family disputes and safeguarding children. The different organisations, including social services, Cafcass, and the courts, all operate within their own defined statutory frameworks and procedural rules while also needing to fit these procedures and frameworks within the expectations in the Public Law Outline.

This fragmentation leads to duplicated efforts, inefficiencies, and inconsistent decisions about the interests of children. Known structural issues such as staff recruitment and retention, as well as inconsistent quality assurance of assessments, make things worse.

Cultural barriers and a lack of trust between organisations also hinder effective multi-agency collaboration. Successful partnerships tend to be reliant on strong local relationships but these depend hugely on individual relationships in any given area, and are not widespread. As a result, families receive fragmented services that fail to address root causes, leading to high numbers having to return to court. One in five mothers in care proceedings risk returning to court within ten years.

Addressing these challenges requires formal structures to facilitate inter-agency collaboration and break down the pervasive “silo mentality” across the system.

What did the Trailblazers do?

In response to these challenges, several of the Trailblazer areas introduced a range of innovative approaches to improve multi-agency collaboration and professional development within the family justice system. These innovative approaches were:

• Guildford prioritised court skills and Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) development, embedding comprehensive training into staff onboarding to uphold quality and consistency.

• Cheshire and Merseyside implemented extensive multi-disciplinary training across nine local authorities, including specialised modules such as ParentAssess, and training from CoramBAAF, Kinship, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, and bespoke sessions such as Theraplay, ensuring that both frontline practitioners and family time workers benefited from strong, standardised, evidence-based approaches.

• ESST focused on developing practical guides for how different agencies worked together, including commitments from key partners in public law ways of working, and seeking clarity from one another. They also expanded ParentAssess training, ran cross-partner events, and established rigorous quality assurance for training materials.

Additionally, the Trailblazers also aimed to improve multi-agency working by addressing governance and collaboration complexities. Primarily, these focused on restructuring forums and communication channels. Central London established integrated regional governance, bringing together 12 local authorities under a single leadership and data-sharing structure, during the pilot. ESST revamped their forum structures and communication protocols to facilitate live intelligence sharing and joint decision-making, supported by regionally tailored training programmes to boost court skills and assessment quality. Across all areas, these innovations fostered shared learning, improved resource pooling, and promoted consistent, family-centred practice across complex local systems.

Lessons learnt

One of the key lessons from this work is the need for strong, collective leadership and a unified vision across all agencies within the Family Justice System. Success depends on committed leadership throughout the system – this includes the DFJ, local authority DCSs, and CAFCASS Head of Service. Establishing a shared vision for how local systems should operate is essential for delivering better outcomes for children and families.

Local Family Justice Boards have the potential to be a valuable cornerstone for driving improvements, acting as the primary body to bring agencies together, and champion performance. Previous work shows that LFJBs should take a proactive stance in system governance, with clear lines of accountability and a coordinated approach to preventing delays. This involves fostering shared goals and aligned priorities among the judiciary, local authorities, legal professionals, and support services.

Effective governance structures and robust communication protocols are vital. Agencies should share information efficiently, for example, by providing advance notice to CAFCASS for care proceedings and ensuring open channels between social workers, CAFCASS practitioners, and legal professionals from the outset. This approach reduces duplication, enables better pooling of resources, and supports joint case management and integrated family support, addressing staff shortages and fragmented service delivery.

Ultimately, developing transparent governance and collaboration mechanisms around LFJBs ensures unified leadership, collective responsibility for outcomes, and a partnership approach to system improvement. These lessons emphasise that coordinated, accountable, and well-communicated efforts are fundamental for reducing delays and improving the experience for families navigating the Family Justice System.

Initial Impact 

These changes improved the quality and consistency of social worker assessments, strengthened relationships between agencies, and made better use of resources. Social workers benefited from centralised access to high-quality resources and training materials, improving practice standards. Workforce stability and capacity were enhanced, supporting better outcomes for children and families.

For more information on the work to improve social worker assessments see this webinar. 

Restructuring forums and communication channel reduced siloed working, and helped ensure the right people received timely, relevant updates. Similarly. They helped to improve collaboration and accountability through shared principles and commitments.

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, contact kate.copeland@mutualventures.co.uk.