Accredited official statistics

Family Court Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2025

Published 26 June 2025

© Crown copyright 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025/family-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2025

1. Main Points
On average, care proceedings took less time than in the same quarter last year with more disposals within 26 weeks. The average time for a care or supervision case to reach first disposal was 40 weeks in January to March 2025, down 2 weeks compared to the same quarter in 2024. 35% of cases were disposed of within 26 weeks - up 4 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024.
There were 28,890 divorce applications under the no fault divorce legislation this quarter Between January to March 2025 there were 28,890 applications made (73% from sole applicants, 27% from joint applicants), down 3% compared to the same period in 2024, including those for dissolution of civil partnerships.
Increase in both domestic violence remedy applications and orders made. The number of domestic violence remedy order applications and orders made increased by 5% and 1% respectively compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024.
Decrease in the number of both adoption applications and orders. In January to March 2025 there were 1,012 adoption applications, down 3% on the equivalent quarter in 2024. The number of adoption orders issued decreased by 8% to 1,008.
There were 5,133 orders relating to deprivation of liberty under the Mental Capacity Act this quarter There were 2,127 applications under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 relating to deprivation of liberty in January to March 2025.
Decrease in time taken for probate grants issued Probate grants took approximately 5 weeks (mean average) to be issued after the application was submitted during January to March 2025, down around 6 weeks on the equivalent quarter in 2024. This is while the number of applications increased by 5% over the same period.

This publication presents statistics on activity in the family courts of England and Wales and provides figures for the latest quarter (January to March 2025). For further information and technical details please refer to the accompanying Guide to Family Court Statistics.

For feedback related to the content of this publication, please let us know at familycourt.statistics@justice.gov.uk

2. Data Quality Issues

Data for divorce hearings for Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2022 onwards (Tables 11 and 13) cannot be maintained due to the capability of collecting the hearings data for new divorce law not yet being available and the limited reasons for contesting a divorce case within the new law.

Following Reform and transition to a new data platform, additional work is needed to reinstate timeliness and legal representation figures for financial remedy cases in Tables 10 and 11. These series will be reinstated as soon as possible.

The forced marriage and FGM data used in this publication (Table 16 and 17) are extracted from HMCTS’ management information system One Performance Truth. Recent data validation has confirmed that this system does not include all applications/orders made. We are reviewing the data available, and these tables will be modified accordingly from next quarter. Please treat with caution.

3. Statistician’s comment

During January to March 2025, an increased number of cases started for financial remedies, domestic violence remedies and adoption compared to the equivalent period last year. In contrast there were fewer case starts for public law, private law and matrimonial matters.

Data on public law cases shows that care proceedings showed more disposals within the 26 week timeframe, and private law cases were also disposed of quicker compared to the same period last year.

Despite an increase in applications this quarter, time taken for probate grants to be issued improved compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024.

4. Overview of the Family Justice System

Decrease in the number of cases started and cases disposed in Family Courts

In January to March 2025, 67,541 new cases started in family courts, down 1% on the equivalent quarter in 2024. This was due to decreases in matrimonial (3%), public law (3%) and private law (1%) cases. However, there was an increase in financial remedy (2%) and domestic violence (1%) case starts.

There were 58,270 case disposals in January to March 2025, down 3% on the equivalent quarter of 2024. This was due to decreases in matrimonial (14%), adoption (10%) and public law (5%) cases. However, there was an increase in domestic violence (18%), private law (12%) and financial remedy (1%) case disposals. (Table 1)

Figure 1: Cases started and disposed, by case type, January to March 2014 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 1)

In January to March 2025, over 43% of new cases within family courts related to matrimonial matters, similar to the equivalent quarter of 2024.

Timeliness by Case Type

The mean average time for divorce cases (under the no fault divorce law) to reach first disposal was up 3 weeks compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024. Private law cases took less time, with the mean average time to first disposal in January to March 2025 taking 28 weeks, down around 2 weeks compared to the same period in 2024. (Tables 10, 10b)

Public and private law cases – number of parties

The vast majority of private law cases involve one applicant and one respondent only (Table 6). However, for public law cases whilst nearly all cases have only one applicant, 82% involve two or more respondents.


HMCTS monthly management information

The statistics in this publication focus on the period between January to March 2025; however, monthly management information (MI) has been published by HMCTS that covers up to April 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/hmcts-management-information-april-2025. This MI is subject to the data quality issues associated with extracting data from large live administrative case management systems. Late reporting of cases and regular updating of case details, which can lead to the figures being updated to manage the case - more recent figures may therefore be subject to larger revisions and should be treated with greater care and considered provisional.

5. Children Act - Public Law

Decrease in the number of public law case starts and cases disposed

There were 3,952 public law cases starting in January to March 2025, down 3% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024. Cases disposed were down 5% to 3,784 (Table 2).

Average time for care proceedings decreased

The average time for a care and supervision case to reach first disposal was 40 weeks in January to March 2025, down 2 weeks from the same quarter in 2024. 35% of these care proceedings were disposed of within the 26-week limit introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014, up 4 percentage points from the same period last year (Table 8).

There were 6,621 individual children involved in new public law applications in January to March 2025, down 5% on the same quarter in the previous year, while the number of orders applied for decreased by 4%. In January to March 2025, public law care applications made up 66% of public law orders applied for (2,950) (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Public law applications and orders made by order type, January to March 2025 (Source: Table 3-4)

6. Children Act - Private Law

Decrease in the number of private law case starts and increase in the number of cases disposed

The number of private law cases[footnote 1] started decreased by 1% (to 13,311) in January to March 2025 compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024. The number of applications made decreased by 1% over the same period.

The number of private law cases disposed of during January to March 2025 was up 12% on the equivalent quarter in 2024, with the number of disposals down by 7% (Table 2).

There were 13,990 new private law applications made in January to March 2025, down 1% on the equivalent quarter in 2024, with 20,575 individual children involved in these applications.

The number of private law disposals in January to March 2025 was 29,125, down 7% on the equivalent quarter in 2024.

Timeliness of Private law cases

In January to March 2025, it took on average 41 weeks for private law cases to reach a final order, i.e. case closure, down 2 weeks from the same period in 2024 (Table 9).

Figure 3: Private law timeliness from case start date to final order in the family court, January to March 2014 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 9)

Cases with legal representation take longer on average

In general, cases where either both parties or the respondent only had legal representation took longer to be disposed of than those cases where only the applicant was represented or where both parties were without legal representation (Table 10).

Legal representation in private law cases

The implementation of the LASPO Act led to a shift in the proportion of private law cases involving legal representation[footnote 2],[footnote 3]. More recently, the proportions have been relatively stable - in January to March 2025, the proportion of disposals where neither the applicant nor respondent had legal representation was 38%, down 1 percentage point from January to March 2024.

Correspondingly, the proportion of cases where both parties had legal representation was 19% in January to March 2025, unchanged compared to the same period in 2024 (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Proportion of private law disposals by type of legal representation of the parties, January to March 2014 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 10)

The pattern of legal representation is also demonstrated in private law cases with at least one hearing where the proportion of parties with legal representation stood at 28% in January to March 2025, down from 33% in January to March 2024.

The proportion of parties with legal representation in cases with at least one hearing varies by case type and range from around 84% for public law cases to 3% for adoption cases, with figures subject to change as new cases progress (Table 11).

8. Divorce

There were 28,890 divorce applications made between January to March 2025 under the ‘no fault divorce’ (NFD) legislation

Between January to March 2025 there were 28,890 applications made (73% from sole applicants, 27% from joint applicants) (Table 12b). This was a decrease of 3% from the same quarter in 2024.

There were 22,053 final orders granted in January to March 2025 down 14% compared to the same quarter in 2024 (across both no fault divorce and prior legislation) (Table 12).

Increase in the average time for all divorce proceedings

In January to March 2025, the mean average time from application to conditional order was 42 weeks up 1 week from the same quarter of 2024 (Table 12).

The mean average time from application to final order was 74 weeks, up 7 weeks from the equivalent quarter in 2024.

The number of conditional order pronouncements reduced in November 2024 - this was due to a planned reduction in listings introduced to support wider service delivery. This change in delivery resulted in the average time increasing in divorce cases in Q1 2025, which are expected to reduce over the next quarter with improvements being made to the listings of pronouncement hearings.

Please note that, due to the mandatory waiting period between applying for divorce and applying for the conditional order (CO), this means that any NFD cases started would have had to have waited at least 20 weeks before getting to the CO stage. For cases applied for under the old law, our timeliness measure will represent a dwindling number of cases and reflect the tail end of cases applied for some time ago, and so this measure will be relatively high and will increase over time (and represent fewer cases) until all cases applied for under the old law are dealt with.

Sole and Joint divorce cases

For sole divorce cases, there were 20,947 applications made during January to March 2025 (73% of the total, down 3 percentage points from the same period of 2024). The average time to conditional order for January to March 2025 for these cases was 40 weeks, and 60 weeks from application to final order.

For joint divorce cases, there were 7,943 applications made during January to March 2025 (27% of the total, up 3 percentage points from the same period of 2024). The average time to conditional order for January to March 2025 for these cases was 33 weeks, and 50 weeks from application to final order.

Figure 5: Divorce applications made between Q2 2022 to Q1 2025, by applicant type (Source: Table 12b)

9. Financial Remedy

Increase seen in financial remedy applications with similar numbers of disposal events

In January to March 2025, the number of financial remedy applications was up 1% while disposals events remained similar to the same period in 2024 (Table 14).

There were 11,716 financial remedy applications made in January to March 2025, up 1% from the same period in 2024, while there were 11,439 financial remedy disposals events, similar levels to the previous year. During the latest quarter, 74% of applications were uncontested and 26% were contested.

Figure 6: Applications for financial remedy orders, January to March 2014 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 14)

10. Domestic Violence Remedy Orders

Increase in both the number of domestic violence remedy applications and orders made, consistent with the long-term trend

In January to March 2025, there was a 5% increase in applications made compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024. The number of orders made increased by 1% over the same period. The overall picture highlights a longer-term increase in the number of applications, with the number of applications in the latest quarter almost double those made since the series began in 2011 (Table 15).

In January to March 2025, there were 8,042 domestic violence remedy applications, (up by 5% on the same quarter in 2024), requesting a total of 9,222 orders (multiple orders can be applied for in a single application). Most of the orders applied for were non-molestation orders (84%) compared to occupation orders (16%); these proportions have remained relatively consistent in recent years. Applications for non-molestation orders in January to March 2025 were up, by 5% whereas applications for occupation orders were down, by 3% respectively, compared to the same period in 2024.

There were 9,374 domestic violence orders made in January to March 2025, up 1% from the same period last year. 94% were non-molestation orders and 6% were occupation orders, with non-molestation orders up by 2% and occupation orders down by 5% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024.

The lockdown situation as a result of the covid-19 pandemic brought warnings about an increase in domestic violence, with victims having less opportunity to leave abusive partners. Longer term, police forces have been using a power to release alleged perpetrators without bail conditions, referred to as ‘released under investigation’, since 2017. This is a possible driving factor behind the rise in domestic violence remedy cases, as victims seek protective orders through the courts. The publicity around the Domestic Abuse Bill (draft published January 2019 and completed in the Commons stages July 2020) may have also impacted levels.

Figure 7: Applications for domestic violence remedy orders, January to March 2014 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 15)

11. Forced Marriage Protection Orders and Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders

Long term upward trend in the number of forced marriage protection orders and female genital mutilation protection orders (Table 16 and 17)

The number of applications and orders made for forced marriage protection orders (FMPOs) is very small. Consequently, numbers fluctuate each quarter but overall, there has broadly been a long-term upward trend from their introduction in November 2008 until the end of 2019 with a less pronounced increase thereafter.

In January to March 2025, there were 100 applications made, of which 67% of applications were for people aged 17 and under. Over the same period, there were 99 orders made, up 14% since the same period from the previous year.

Historically the number of orders made outweigh the number of applications. Often there are multiple orders granted per case, where one application covers more than one person, and an order is granted for each person covered in the application. Extensions and increased provision of previous orders can also be granted as new orders, without the need for a new application to be submitted.

An increase in the number of orders does not necessarily represent an increase in the prevalence of forced marriage, but potentially it relates to a greater awareness of forced marriage being a crime and the support available. Particularly during 2019 where the government held events with relevant groups (local authorities, police, charities etc.), designed specifically to raise awareness of FMPOs and how they can be used to protect those at risk. In 2020, health education became compulsory across all state-funded schools in England, where Relationship Education is compulsory in primary schools and Relationship and Sex Education (RES) is compulsory in secondary schools to spread awareness of forced marriages.

Figure 8: Applications and orders made for Forced Marriage Protection Orders, January to March 2014 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 16)

As with FMPOs, the number of applications and orders made for female genital mutilation protection orders (FGMPOs) is very small, with 21 applications and 21 orders made respectively in January to March 2025 (Table 17). In total, there have been 670 applications and 930 orders made up to end of March 2025, since their introduction in July 2015.

In using data from this section, please remain mindful of the caveats outlined in the Data Quality Issues section and apply some caution.

12. Adoptions

Decrease in the number of adoption applications and orders, consistent with the long-term trend showing a fall in adoptions

During January to March 2025, there were 1,012 adoption applications made, down 3% from the equivalent quarter in 2024. Over the same period, the number of adoption orders issued also decreased by 8% to 1,008 (Tables 18 and 19).

There were 1,952 total disposals in January to March 2025, a decrease of 8% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024.

The chart below shows the trend of adoption orders by the type of adopter. This shows that during January to March 2025, 52% of all adoption orders were issued to mixed-sex couples, 22% to sole applicants, 16% to same-sex couples and 8% to step-parents.

Figure 9: Adoption orders issued, by adopter, January to March 2014 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 19)

13. Mental Capacity Act - Court of Protection

There are two figures related to deprivation of liberty. The first are those made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which cover people over 18 and are made by the Court of Protection, and the second refers to the ability of the High Court to make deprivation of liberty orders for people under 18. The figures in this summary refer to the former.

There were 2,127 applications relating to deprivation of liberty under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 made in the most recent quarter. Furthermore, the number of orders made for deprivation of liberty was 5,133.

Court of Protection figures under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (Table 20 and 21) have been reintroduced in this publication, following the transition to a new data system in July 2024. However, due to improved recording practices and several changes to the categorisations published, it is not possible to make robust comparisons to data prior to this time.

In January to March 2025, there were 9,149 applications made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Of those, 35% related to applications for appointment of a property and affairs deputy (Table 20).

In comparison, there were 12,257 orders made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). Of those, 42% related to orders for Deprivation of Liberty (Table 21).

Deprivation of Liberty applications made under the Mental Capacity Act

There were 2,127 applications relating to deprivation of liberty under the Mental Capacity Act in January to March 2025. This is 23% of the applications made under the Mental Capacity Act in the quarter.

Deprivation of Liberty applications made under the High Court

There are also deprivation of liberty applications made to the High Court, which has the power to make deprivation of liberty orders for children under the age of 18. There were 321 applications during January to March 2025, up 11% compared to the same period in 2024 for this purpose, handling the same number of children. Almost all of these children were teenagers; 55% aged between 13 and 15 and 35% aged between 16 and 18 years (Table 22).

In January to March 2025, 287 orders were issued (up 6%), of which, 118 have had a final order made. 36% of the orders which were finalised between January to March 2025 lasted less than 3 months, while 15% lasted more than 12 months.

These are different from the deprivation of liberty applications and orders made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which relate to people over the age of 18. This means that the changes that affected data quality for deprivation of liberty applications made under the Mental Capacity Act do not affect the applications here.

14. Mental Capacity Act - Office of the Public Guardian

Decrease in Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs)

In January to March 2025, there were 299,976 LPAs registered, down 21% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2024 (Table 23).

In total there were 301,174 Powers of Attorney (POAs) registered in January to March 2025, down 21% from the same quarter in 2024 (Table 23). In January to March 2025, 55% of POAs registered were from female donors whilst 43% were from male donors and 48% were over 75 years old. Lasting Power of Attorney (LPAs) made up almost all (99.6%) of POAs registered in January to March 2025, with Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPAs) making up the other share. There were 1,198 EPAs registered in January to March 2025, down 24% on the equivalent quarter in 2024.

The sharp increase in LPAs seen during 2015 and 2016 was largely due to increased publicity and the new online forms introduced in July 2015 making it simpler and faster to apply. The more recent increase in LPAs is part of the trend seen of more applications being made over time as awareness of LPAs has increased and also in response to the pandemic, but this trend shows signs of easing with recent declines.

Figure 10: Powers of Attorney registered, January to March 2014 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 22)

15. Probate Service

Probate grants issued more quickly than other grants of representation

Probate grants took approximately 5 weeks to be issued after the application was submitted during January to March 2025, down around 6 weeks from the equivalent quarter in 2024. Letters of administration with a will and without a will took around 16 and 9 weeks respectively (Table 25).

Similar levels in both the proportion of digital applications for probate grants and probate grants issued digitally

In January to March 2025, there were 65,099 applications for probate grants. 64,595 probate grants were issued in the same period. 93% of both applications and grants issued were made digitally, compared to 92% and 93% respectively in the same quarter in 2024 (Table 24).

There were 80,278 applications made for grants of representation in January to March 2025. 65,099 (81%) of these were for probate grants, of which 93% were made digitally (Table 24).

Probate grants also make up the majority (80%) of all grants issued. In January to March 2025, 54% of the grants issued were applied for by legal professionals and 46% were personal applications (Table 24). For the 64,595 probate grants issued in the same period, 93% were issued digitally.

Timeliness of probate grants

The mean average time from application submission to grant issue for probate grants was 5 weeks (median average 1 week) overall. The mean time between application submission and grant being issued is the lowest it’s been since the start of the series. Whilst the mean average time for the majority of grants (that is digital probate grants for applications not stopped which formed 68% of total probate grants issued) took approximately 2 weeks from application submission to grant issue and less than a week from document receipt to grant issue.

Timeliness of grants issued can be affected if the case has been ‘stopped’ for any reason (this can occur when there’s a dispute about either who can apply for probate or where there are issues with a will or proposed will, or if an error is identified and a request for further information made). Probate grants that were stopped during January to March 2025 took 13 weeks on average to be issued, compared to 2 weeks for those that were not stopped.

Time taken from document receipt (i.e. when payment has been made and the application and all accompanying documents are ready for examination) to grant issue, is around 2 weeks quicker than the average time from application submission for probate grants.

Averages for letters of administration with a will and without a will were 16 and 9 weeks respectively for January to March 2025, though these formed a smaller proportion of all grants issued, 4% and 16% respectively (Figure 12).

Figure 11: Average (mean) time for grants of representation issued from application submission by the Probate Service, July to September 2019 to January to March 2025 (Source: Table 25)

Open caseload

There were 35,475 total open probate cases at the end of March 2025. This is down from 69,017 at the end of March 2024, a fall of nearly 50%. This is due to the recovery plan in probate, which has been in place since August 2023 and has been focused on upskilling staff to tackle the open caseload. The majority of the open caseload is for probate grants (68%), compared to letters of administration (25%) and letters of administration with a will annexed (7%). Open cases for probate only decreased from 46,954 in March 2024 to 24,061, down by 49%.

79% (28,048) of the open caseload at the end of March 2025 had been open for less than six months.

16. Further information

The data presented in this publication are from live administrative databases. Therefore, previously published data is liable to be updated in the latest bulletin, following any further data cleaning or the incorporation of additional cases not available in the extracts used to produce previous bulletins.

Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

Accredited official statistics status

Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in January 2019. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for accredited official statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. Accredited official statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:

Tel: 0300 790 0711

Email: newsdesk@justice.gsi.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Data and Evidence as a Service division of the Ministry of Justice:

Rita Kumi-Ampofo, Head of Access to Justice Data and Statistics, using the following email address familycourt.statistics@justice.gov.uk

Next update: 25 September 2025

URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly

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Produced by the Ministry of Justice

Alternative formats are available on request from ESD@justice.gov.uk

  1. The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) also publishes (England only) data on the number of private law cases. A comparison of Cafcass and MoJ data and further information can be found in the accompanying guide. ↩

  2. Please see the accompanying guide for further details. ↩

  3. Removal of Legal Aid was a result of the Legal Aid, Sentencing & Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). ↩

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