Solicitors representing children in cases of chronic neglect are being obliged to act without the advice of a guardian or social worker, lawyers warned this week.

A shortage of guardians at the Children and Family Courts Advisory Service has led to courts directing solicitors to appoint independent social workers to advise on welfare issues instead of Cafcass guardians.

However, guidance issued by the Legal Services Commission last week indicated that fees charged by independent social workers would not be paid for from the legal aid fund.

The advice states that ‘it is the responsibility of Cafcass to provide a children’s guardian in such cases’.

Elspeth Thomson, child law expert at Newcastle firm David Gray, said: ‘It can be six months before a guardian is appointed. But solicitors at the moment are being expected to be able to make decisions which guardians should make. You might have a situation where there has been chronic neglect which has ebbed and flowed for years, and where you are thinking, we really need to get that child out of there. But it is not the solicitor’s role to go and look round the house… That is a judgement call about what conditions are like [which should be made by a guardian or social worker].’

Thomson added: ‘If you have not got an independent social worker, then where does the pressure fall? It will fall on the solicitors.’

Chris Goulden, family law expert at Bristol firm TLT, said solicitors had been ‘getting round’ the shortage of guardians by appointing independent social workers, with the sanction of the court. But as this practice increased, it was ‘hardly surprising’ that the LSC had objected to ‘being used to subsidise the shortcomings of Cafcass’.

He added: ‘But it does not alleviate the problem, and it’s a very concerning situation and a further degrading of the [principle that] children are supposed to be represented by both a guardian and a solicitor.’

Cafcass has attributed backlogs in appointing guardians to a ‘massive increase’ in applications to put children into care.