Reducing Delays in Care Proceedings: Lessons from the Trailblazer Pilot Programme on Improving Data Availability

Following the success of the DFJ Trailblazer programme and subsequent Guided Learning programme, Mutual Ventures has been commissioned by the Department for Education to support all DFJ areas across England to take part in the National Learning Support programme.

In a series of articles, Luke Bevir provides an overview of the previous DFJ Area Trailblazer Pilot, the five pilot areas’ journeys to share learning that will be relevant for other DFJ Areas beginning to develop their own solutions to challenges as part of the Guided Learning Programme.

The second article in the series looks at the pilot areas’ work to develop and improve system governance.

The Family Justice System is complex. Delays in proceedings are a persistent issue that affects outcomes for children and families. These delays can leave children waiting for stability and safety, and place additional strain on families and professionals.  

The DFJ Trailblazers Pilot Programme aimed to reduce case delays in the Family Justice System by supporting local authorities within five DFJ areas to identify local drivers of delay, and design and implement solutions that improve efficiency and effectiveness in handling public law care proceedings. The pilot brought together local authorities, the judiciary, Cafcass and other partners across five Designated Family Judge (DFJ) Areas (‘Trailblazers’) in England to co-design and test locally tailored solutions. 

The five Trailblazers were: 

• Central London 

• Cheshire and Merseyside 

• Essex, Suffolk, Southend-On-Sea and Thurrock 

• Guildford 

• Wolverhampton 

After identifying the key challenges faced by each pilot area, our team at Mutual Ventures supported the Trailblazers to develop solutions to address these shared challenges, cutting across five key thematic areas.

This article provides an overview of the second theme: Improving data availability and use

Creating a single, shared and agreed dataset across all partners working together in the judiciary system, providing insight into outcomes for children.

Existing challenges 

Reliable and comprehensive data is essential for understanding and addressing delays, but many local authorities across DFJ areas have said that data from pre-proceedings through to court can be inconsistent, siloed, and incomplete. This means that it can be difficult to track outcomes for children and families or to identify where blockages are occurring. In addition to this, manual processes and a lack of automation further hinder the reliability and timeliness of data, making it challenging to measure the impact of interventions or to compare performance across areas.

As stakeholders within a DFJ area commonly having different data systems – whether this is different case management systems between local authorities, or the portals and systems used by Cafcass and HMCTS – it can be difficult for them all to agree to a shared understanding of care proceedings within that court area. While they might collect some similar data, they may not use the same terminology, and it is therefore challenging to reconcile different datasets and agree what the accurate regional “picture” actually looks like.

This was a challenge for the five Trailblazers who found that the right processes were not in place to develop an accurate picture of their DFJ area. Without a strong foundation built upon reliable and accurate data, they would be limited in their ability address the “right” local challenges and reduce delays.

Meaningful progress in reducing court delays depends on rigorous, systematic measurement of the end-to-end journey and outcomes of decisions, supported by consistent, system-wide datasets.

What did the Trailblazers do?

Trailblazer areas including Wolverhampton and Central London piloted new approaches that aimed to create consistent, system-wide data collection that covered the whole child journey, including outcomes after proceedings.

In the Wolverhampton DFJ area, regional data variation between local authorities prevented them from having a shared understanding of performance differences and the key drivers of delays. They also found that existing national data systems had accessibility limitations which affected their usefulness in LFJB discussions.

The area agreed that there was a need to develop an area-specific approach to improve the reliability and consistency of data collection and analysis, to support LFJB decision making.

Wolverhampton (the lead local authority for the pilot) leveraged their sophisticated local data capabilities including AI analysis to lead the development of a comprehensive regional data tool, with enhanced Key Performance Indicators and automated dashboard creation to provide deeper insights into care proceedings performance. The tool was developed to provide a narrative for each individual local authority and the region as a whole to track progress, identify common patterns and concerns, and support the LFJB to make informed decisions to address drivers of delays.

In the Central London DFJ Area, the complexity of data collection across 12 local authorities meant that stakeholders had very different views on what the blockages in the region were. This made it difficult for them to agree on what was most pressing to address, and some professionals felt that their organisations were routinely criticised with insufficient evidence to support these claims.

In response to this, the area developed a standardised quarterly data template completed by all participating local authorities, covering comprehensive data points across the pre-proceedings process.

This shared template used standardised metrics to ensure consistency of terminology across all stakeholders, and was embedded within a quarterly reporting cycle across all participating local authorities.

This new evidence-led approach identified the key blockages and drivers of delay within Central London, which supported improved regional collaboration through data-driven discussion and decision-making at the LFJB. It also allowed for meaningful data comparison across areas.

Lessons learnt

The experience of the Trailblazers revealed several key factors affecting their data improvement work:

• Data and IT teams need to be involved from the start to answer technical questions and provide necessary challenge throughout the process, as data improvement needs to match the abilities and limitations of the technical environment. 

• It is necessary to complete this work across the regional footprint to reveal any variations between local authorities that would remain hidden if this work was completed in isolation. 

• Where it is possible to do so, leveraging existing strengths and capabilities that exist within the DFJ area creates momentum and ensures that any advancements build upon existing examples of good practice. Wolverhampton’s ability to lead the work in their court area was key to the successful delivery of their new approach. 

Initial impact 

The Trailblazers’ work has led to an improved ability to track and measure outcomes. The new data processes enable the earlier identification of delays and what may be driving them.

This has given a newly shared regional understanding of care proceedings including identifying variations and the impact of targeted interventions.

The greater level of transparency that these new data approaches provide has supported the LFJBs to advocate for further changes to address the drivers of delays in their area.

For more information on this work see this webinar exploring how enhanced data can improve local decision making.

What is happening next?

Improvement in Family Justice is an ongoing journey, and the value of collaboration and shared purpose is clear. The pilot demonstrated how working together, sharing learning, and focusing on outcomes, can make a real difference and help shape a more effective Family Justice System for children and families.

Our team at Mutual Ventures is now excited to invite all DFJ areas across England to take part in the National Learning Support programme, designed to share the pilot’s learning and insights in more detail, and provide direct support to identify challenges and co-design solutions.

Are you ready to tackle delays in your area?

All local authority Directors of Children’s Services have now received an invitation to join the programme and we are beginning to engage with interested DFJ areas.

If you have not yet responded but would like to be involved in the programme, please contact kate.copeland@mutualventures.co.uk to express your interest to take part in the second cohort of support. This cohort will run from December 2025 to March 2026.