Local authority applications for care proceedings continue to rise

The number of applications for care proceedings made by local authorities has continued to rise, with the latest figures showing a record 832 cases reported in March alone.

Figures released by Cafcass, the children and family court advisory service, show that care applications have continued to rise though at a slower rate than has previously been seen.

From January to March this year there were 2,213 applications compared to 2,204 in the previous quarter.

While the rise in applications seems to be slowing, the high number of cases each month is continuing to put pressure on services including family court guardians, according to Cafcass chief executive Anthony Douglas.

“I fully support the actions that local authorities are taking to protect these children, most of whom have complex long-term needs and for whom there are no easy options or solutions, either at home or in the care system,” he said. “There is no doubt though that the sustained increase in care cases has placed all of us working in the care system under pressure.”

The organisation’s controversial duty guardian scheme, where cases are allocated on a priority basis to duty teams rather than a named practitioner, has been heralded by Douglas as a way of coping with the continuing high level of cases.

He said: “Our new proportionate ways of working, and the introduction of duty schemes in some areas have allowed us to provide a service to an increased number of children.

“It is a great credit to our staff that in March 2010 they were working on 11,509 care cases, a 26 per cent increase on the 9,128 cases they were working on in July 2009.”