Family lawyers and the chairman of parliament's constitutional affairs committee have welcomed the resignation last week of Anthony Hewson - chairman of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS).

Mr Hewson cited a heavy work commitment, which was greater than he had originally anticipated, as the reason for his resignation.

Alan Beith, chairman of the constitutional affairs committee which described CAFCASS's first two years as 'close to disaster' in July, said: 'Mr Hewson, who had the job of setting up CAFCASS on an impossible timetable with inadequate resources, has opened the way to implementing one of the committee's main recommendations by resigning.

We said that there should be a fundamental review of the membership of the board, and that now needs to be carried out by the minister for children, Margaret Hodge.'

A spokesman for the Association of Lawyers for Children said: 'The resignation statement does not say that he is resigning for that reason, but most people are likely to read it as that.

We were surprised that he did not resign when the report came out, as we felt that someone should have taken responsibility.

We found CAFCASS's initial response, that many of the criticisms in the report were out-of-date, as wholly unacceptable.

We are still waiting for a full response to the report from CAFCASS.' Mr Hewson's spokesman denied that the resignation was a result of the committee's criticisms.

Mr Hewson's resignation statement said that although his original contract called for a commitment of two days a week, he spent six days a week on CAFCASS business in the first year.

Former chairman of the Law Society family law committee Peter Watson-Lee said: 'I am amazed to hear that the original job description said two days, when it is probably the biggest job in family law.'

CAFCASS deputy chairwoman Angela Killick has temporarily stepped into the role of chairwoman.

Law Society President Peter Williamson said: 'CAFCASS has been plagued with problems and many children are not getting the welfare representation they need.

We will continue to work closely with CAFCASS to ensure that in future the system safeguards the best interests of children.'

Rachel Rothwell