Accredited official statistics

Family Court Statistics Quarterly Consultation Response

Published 25 June 2026

1. Introduction

The Family Court Statistics Quarterly (FCSQ) has been published as Accredited Official Statistics since December 2014 and presents key statistics on activity in the family court system in England and Wales. These statistics are a leading indicator of the workload and timeliness of a range of matters dealt with by the family courts, including public and private law, matrimonial matters, domestic violence, adoption, forced marriage and female genital mutilation protection orders. The publication also includes data from the Office of the Public Guardian, the Court of Protection (regarding cases under the Mental Capacity Act) and the Probate Service.

Since publication began, the Family Court Statistics team has sought to expand and improve the coverage of FCSQ where this has been supported by public interest and policy developments, subject to data availability and quality.

Following a consultation in 2020, informing a number of changes to the publication, a further consultation was conducted during April 2026. The aim of this consultation was to identify potential areas of development that would be of most value to users, covering both general user experience as well as specific data development proposals.

While the consultation received a modest number of responses, these were provided by engaged users and offered detailed and constructive feedback. This paper summarises the key themes arising from the consultation and sets out how the Family Court Statistics team intends to take these forward, subject to data quality, feasibility and available analytical resource.

2. You said, we did - Previous consultation outcomes

In the previous consultation, users identified several priority areas for development within FCSQ. We committed to taking these forward where data quality and resources allowed, with the outcomes as follows:

• A split of domestic violence remedy statistics by ex‑parte and on‑notice applications was included in the September 2021 publication.

• Following HMCTS Reform of both public and private law, the main Children Act table (Table 2) was streamlined in the September 2024 and December 2025 releases accordingly

• Open caseloads have been published across several areas:

• Probate (Mar 2025 release)

• Public law (Sept 2025 release)

• Private law (June 2026 release)

3. Areas for development following 2026 consultation

Demand for New and Expanded Statistics

• Digital court processes: Respondents supported the publication of statistics on digital court processes across key family justice areas (in particular public and private law, along with financial remedy cases). Respondents requested for digital splits to cover both those starting in the digital system as well as fully digital cases. The team will engage with HMCTS to assess what data are available centrally and whether these are sufficiently robust for publication as Accredited Official Statistics.

• Open caseload measures: Users expressed clear interest in open caseload statistics for case types where these are not yet routinely published (divorce, financial remedies and domestic violence remedies). Further internal work will be undertaken to explore data availability and to agree consistent definitions where publication is feasible.

• Probate caveats: Views were mixed on whether such statistics would be useful. However, the information is regularly required via Freedom of Information requests, which strengthens the need to publish this information on a regular basis.

4. Priorities for Pilot and Reform Programmes

• Child Focused Courts (CFC, previously Pathfinder) pilot

Respondents highlighted case volumes, timeliness (to key milestones and disposal) along with comparisons with non‑CFC areas, would support evaluation of the pilot’s impact and help meet demand from Parliamentary Questions and FOI requests.

• Domestic Abuse Protection Order pilot

There was interest in volumes, timeliness and outcomes, ideally with sub-national breakdowns. As DAPOs are handled across criminal, family and magistrates courts, consideration will need to be given as to how best to disseminate this information as each jurisdiction has their own related statistics release.

• Fast Track Financial Remedy pilot

Users prioritised the need for data on case volumes, timeliness, hearing counts and case outcomes, including whether cases return to court (the latter being a key indicator of whether the pilot is delivering sustainable resolutions).

Across all pilots, discussions will continue with HMCTS to assess what data are available, robust and suitable for publication alongside policy colleagues to make sure any published information is beneficial to pilot evaluation at appropriate milestones and for national rollout.  Accredited Official Statistics such as FCSQ are generally most appropriate for reporting once services are operating at national scale, as pilot evaluation often requires more detailed and flexible analytical approaches than routine statistical releases can support, but we will explore the content and quality of the pilot data for each program to understand what may be possible.

5. Analytical Preferences and Presentation

• Timeliness measures: Most favoured publishing both mean and median measures rather than mean or median singularly. Currently, both means and medians are available in the accompanying csvs (with most already available in the tables themselves). It is intended that medians are available throughout alongside means, with commentary amended to lead with median trends. One commented that additional distributional information (such as percentiles) would be helpful to better reflect case complexity and variation.

• Disaggregation and depth: Respondents requested more granular breakdowns, including:

• Regional or Designated Family Judge (DFJ)‑level statistics

• Case outcomes and hearings per case

• Measures relevant to litigants in person to ensure a better service is being provided

• Longitudinal or cohort‑based analyses rather than disposal‑only views

There was also interest in improved equality‑related analysis, where data availability permits.

However, demographic information within family court systems is currently limited, and some areas raised — such as user experience, satisfaction and qualitative feedback — are more appropriately addressed through research and evaluation activity rather than through FCSQ.

6. Publication Frequency and Products

Most respondents supported retaining the current quarterly publication with quarterly data, enabling regular monitoring of trends and supporting ongoing scrutiny. Users reported continuing reliance on a mix of outputs, including the statistical bulletin, downloadable datasets and existing dashboards.

7. Forward look

The consultation highlighted user demand for:

• Expanded coverage of digital and reformed court processes

• Greater transparency of open caseloads

• Robust, publishable metrics for pilot programmes

• More granular and distribution‑based timeliness analysis

Respondents generally recognised the need to balance ambition with data quality and resource constraints, but there is a clear expectation that future developments to FCSQ should support accountability, evaluation of reform, and evidence‑based decision‑making across the family justice system.

The Family Court Statistics team will continue to engage with HMCTS and other stakeholders to assess what data are available and sufficiently robust for publication as Accredited Official Statistics. Any future developments will be considered alongside existing commitments and prioritised through a planned work programme, taking account of analytical capacity and competing demands. Future releases of FCSQ will clearly highlight where enhancements or new analyses have been introduced.

Although the consultation period has been closed, the team always welcome feedback and suggestions to the FCSQ publication. Please contact familycourt.statistics@justice.gov.uk if you have any queries.