Reporting about our work

Every year, Cafcass publishes a report of its work over the previous twelve months. The Cafcass Annual Report & Accounts 2023-2024 is our most recent report, it covers the period between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. The report highlights the progress we made while also acknowledging the challenges we faced as an organisation. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, we worked with 137,347 children and young people. 
• We worked with 6,122 fewer children compared with the year before.
• There were 92,499 children involved in private law family court cases which is when parents live apart and cannot agree the arrangements for their children.
• There were 44,848 children involved in public law family court cases which usually involve children who are looked after by a local authority or who are going to be adopted or live with a special guardian.

In January 2024, Ofsted visited us to inspect our work. They graded us as being ‘Outstanding’ overall and in each of the three areas that they grade us.

The feedback we received from Ofsted included them telling us they had noticed an improvement in the way everyone at Cafcass was placing children at the forefront of everything we do, and that children’s welfare is protected and promoted by our actions and the recommendations we make to the family courts.

To read more about our Ofsted inspection, visit: Ofsted results | Cafcass

In 2023-24, the Family Justice Young People’s Board (FJYPB) completed over 500 pieces of work across the family justice system, of which half were for Cafcass, including:

• Organising the 2023 Voice of the Child conference, with the theme “Building trust - To enable children and young people to participate in their family court proceedings in the context of delay”. This was held online to make it easier for people to attend. 434 professionals joined the conference.
• Producing the Taking Me Seriously animated film, ‘Letting you know how we help’. This film is the start of a series to explain to children what they can expect from Cafcass when we work with them during family court proceedings. 
• Helping to make sure our new website was child-friendly and provides the information which children need. This was developed and launched in 2023, with more child-friendly features, a design which appeals to both children and adults, and better accessibility for website visitors.  
• Working with us to develop an online feedback form. We have continued to develop our new feedback strategy by making it easier for children and families to provide feedback about our work with them. The FJYPB designed the form with us to make sure it’s easy for children to complete.

There are four things that we hear very clearly from children:

• Receiving letters helps children feel connected to their Cafcass worker and lessens their anxiety. Children say that letters are something to keep and refer to in the future; 
• Understanding what is happening, what will happen next and how they will be informed is important to children and we hear this a lot from them. Children want their Cafcass worker to speak to other people who know them and who are important to them; 
• Sharing our recommendations to the family court with children, even when they are not what they have said they think is best for them, is very important to children. When children provide negative feedback, it is often when they say that our recommendations to the courts were not what they wanted to happen; and 
• The opportunity to write to the judge is something most children want so that they can tell them in their own words what they want to happen.

Our annual report provides more information about the progress we are making to ensure this feedback from children is taken into account within our work with all families.

While we achieved a lot during the year, and were pleased to be rated Outstanding by Ofsted, we know that there is always more to do to improve our work and to help children and their families. We are using the feedback and recommendations from the Ofsted inspection as part of our Listening to children – Lighting the way improvement work. Since April 2024, we have continued to work towards our ambition of providing an exceptional experience for the children and young people with whom we work, everywhere and every time.