A House of Commons committee tasked with holding the government to account on public spending has decided to embark on an inquiry on the family courts following the revelation that some families are waiting nearly a year for their case to be decided.

Improving family court services for children is one of 11 inquiries announced by the public accounts committee yesterday.

The committee is basing its inquiry on the work of the National Audit Office, which has been examining whether the Ministry of Justice and other bodies involved in the family court system are managing the service efficiently and effectively to improve outcomes for children. The NAO's first report on this particular area will be published this month.

More than 130,000 children were involved in the family court system in 2023 and data for March 2024 showed that families were waiting almost a year on average for decisions to be made.

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As part of its inquiry, the committee will hear from officials at the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education on whether the family court system has capacity to meet current and future demand, how departments and other organisations are working towards a ‘whole system approach’ to improve family court performance, and how the system can deliver ‘an effective and efficient service that also offers value for taxpayers money’.

'Pathfinder' courts, which adopt a more child-led problem-solving approach, are likely to come up a few times during the inquiry. HM Courts & Tribunals Service data shows that cases heard by Pathfinder courts were being resolved nearly three months more quickly, halving the backlog of cases in Dorset and North Wales.

The committee’s call for written evidence closes on Monday 9 June.