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The chief executive of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service has admitted resources will be stretched by new duties to promote conciliation in custody cases.

Anthony Douglas's admission follows claims by children's minister Margaret Hodge last week that Cafcass may not be able to cope with its new responsibilities, despite them being a "political imperative" .

Douglas said it was a "big question" whether Cafcass had the resources to deliver the government's proposals for conciliation services, due to be in place across the country by March 2006.


He said the organisation already faced a number of pressures including an explosion in private law cases involving particularly vulnerable children, the need to double spending on training, and staff shortages in London, other cities and the Home Counties.

And, while he accepted that resources could be shifted from report-writing to conciliation, he said this depended on judges commissioning less comprehensive reports from Cafcass.

However, he added: "We believe totally in the principles and want to deliver the early intervention model."
Douglas said it would cost Cafcass £3m to implement the government's family justice proposals, which will be included in a draft bill during the current parliamentary session.

Cafcass has only been given a budget increase for 2005-6 in line with inflation, but Douglas said it may have to call for increased resources for 2006-7. He said that, in the past few months, there had been a doubling in private law cases under section 9.5 of the Family Proceedings Rules 1991, where children are allocated guardians because of their particular vulnerability.


"These take up to three times as much time as traditional private law cases... and have diverted resources from other areas," he said.
Douglas added that the organisation was taking action to tackle claims of increased staff harassment, raised by family court union Napo and guardians' representative body Nagalro. He cited an increase in "insidious" hostility against staff from people who thought Cafcass was biased against them, including fathers' rights groups.

Cafcass has written to the Royal Mail highlighting the importance of practitioners' addresses remaining confidential and pledged to take further steps to protect staff over the next few weeks.