Cafcass seeks stability as government reviews its future

Cafcass has pledged that it is “business as usual” after being listed as one of several public bodies whose future is under review by government.

Chief executive Anthony Douglas said the family court body’s future would not be settled until the Family Justice Review reports next year, and said there needed to be “stability” for its 2,000 staff in the meantime.

A leaked list of public bodies earmarked for closure, review or retention was published today by The Daily Telegraph and the BBC Politics Show.

“The Family Justice Review is looking at the system as a whole and asking all the right questions, including about our future,” Douglas told Community Care. “But with no decisions likely to be made until later in 2011 it’s important that there’s stability for our staff so that they can continue to undertake their vital work with vulnerable children.”

Douglas emphasised that while Cafcass believed its services were vital to the sector, it welcomed the review process. He said everyone in the family justice system acknowledged that there were areas for improvement.

“It is healthy to be reviewed and to have a clear future remit reinforced or re-established,” he said. “No organisation has a right to exist, and being under continuous review is a fact of life in both the private and public sectors these days.

“All of us have to approach reviews and change without self-interest, concentrating on which of their functions they believe should carry on, and how, even if they are re-provided in a different way.”

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