Critics say section 41 of Children Act being ignored

[Alison J Stevens]

Critics say section 41 of Children Act being ignored

Family lawyers and guardians have hit out at plans to extend temporary measures to manage soaring care applications to Cafcass.

Sir Mark Potter, chair of the family courts division, has written to organisations, including Cafcass, the Magistrates Association and the Association of Lawyers for Children, to inform
them that interim guidance on the issue was likely to be extended
for another six months. Parties were asked for feedback and have
until today to respond.

The guidance, issued in July 2009, permitted Cafcass to allocate cases to teams of duty guardians, rather than to one named practitioner. Potter said at the time that the changes would "not
be in the form of a long-term practice direction".