News

Self-employed children's guardians have been offered both employed and self-employed contracts by the Children and Family Court Advisory Service, writes Jonathan Pearce.

The move marks an end to a year of hostile relations between the guardians - formerly guardians ad litem - and Cafcass, the government agency created last April to unify the family court welfare service, the local authority guardian ad litem service and the children's arm of the official solicitor.

In a letter to guardians last week, Cafcass' director of legal services Charles Prest admitted the dispute had "cast a shadow over (Cafcass') first year", but said the organisation was keen to "reach a solution".

When Cafcass took over the guardian service last April, the 700 or so self-employed guardians rejected offers of self-employed contracts based on fixed fees, arguing for an hourly rate as a means of ensuring their independence and professional ability to carry out full investigations of child care cases.

By July, Cafcass had withdrawn any offer of self-employment, forcing many guardians to consider leaving the service altogether. But last September the guardians won a judicial review of Cafcass' decision, which the high court ruled unlawful, and both parties have been in negotiations ever since.

All 688 self-employed guardians offering services at the end of last March have been offered either a contract of full, salaried employment with Cafcass, or a self-employed contract based on an hourly rate of £20 (£22.50 in London and eight other areas), which will include travel, equipment, facilities and professional development costs.

The 172 guardians who have accepted Cafcass employment during the last year will also be allowed to choose from the new contracts on offer. Guardians have until the end of March to make their decision.