Fall in proportion of Cafcass social workers holding more than 20 cases

Just over a third of Cafcass social workers have caseloads above target levels but the proportion in this category is continuing to fall.

The family courts body sees a caseload of 20 as being the maximum that enables relationship-based practice for social workers in its long-term teams.

As of mid-January 2025, 34.9% of family court advisers (FCAs) in these teams held caseloads of 20+, down from 42.1% a year earlier, while 5.5% had caseloads of 25+, down from 8.4% in January 2024.

The figures were shared in chief executive Jacky Tiotto’s report to Cafcass’s board meeting, held at the end of last month.

Average caseload holds steady following fall over previous year

The average caseload for these practitioners was 18 as of the end of December 2024, a similar level to that in September of last year, though down from 18.9 in December 2023 and 19.9 in May 2023.

For practitioners working in short-term private law teams – which handle cases up to a first hearing – the average caseload had fallen from 34.4 to 32.5 in the year to December 2024.

The reductions reflect an 8.5% fall in the number of open cases at Cafcass over the past year, from 30,096 in January 2024 to 27,542 in January 2025.

This was driven by a 10.1% fall in the number of open private law cases, from 18,244 to 16,406, which was accompanied by a 6% drop in the public law total.

At the same time, turnover of social workers has been stable, at 14.8% over the past year, a similar figure to the previous 12 months.

In a statement in September 2024, Cafcass said that further reducing caseloads was a “management priority”. It pledged to work with family justice partners to reduce demand and the additional work caused by delayed court proceedings, while also developing a “framework for a balanced workload”, setting out what was “reasonable and fair to expect of a confident and competent social worker”.

Cafcass working to reduce caseload variations between teams

Following the latest figures, it said these remained areas of work.

A spokesperson said: “Our recent data shows that the number of FCAs with more than 20 children’s cases with known future work for Cafcass open to them is continuing to decline with the national average level now consistently below 20 such children’s cases, although it is still not where we want it to be in every area of the country.

“We continue to work collaboratively with our partners in the family justice system with the shared aim to reduce both demand and also the duration of proceedings. We are also working internally to reduce the variation in the level of open children’s cases across our teams, including by targeting recruitment and retention activity in those areas where it can be hardest for us to recruit.

“We are making positive progress internally on the framework for a balanced workload.”