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Annual data summaries

Our annual summaries show the year-on-year cases received for public and private law and care applications. They also include the annual length of care and supervision cases and a national picture of applications in England.  

Number of public law cases received 

Updates to this information are published on an annual basis.  

Number of care applications received 

Updates to this information are published on an annual basis.

Number of private law cases received 

Updates to this information are published on an annual basis.

How long care and supervision cases last 

The target length of time for completing care and supervision (s31) cases, as set out in the Public Law Outline (PLO), is 26 weeks. In January 2023, the President of the Family Division led a relaunch of the Public Law Outline with a renewed focus on meeting the 26-week deadline. 

Annual summaries 

National picture of care applications in England  

Cafcass produces annual statistics on the number of care applications received per 10,000 child population – the rate of care applications – by each local authority in England with children’s services responsibilities. The latest information available is for the years 2008-2009 to 2016-2017.  

The rate of care applications is significant as it helps identify trends in care proceedings independent of population growth.   

The below table shows the national rates of care applications between the years 2009-2010 to 2018-2019. You can also download the Table of LA rates of care application per 10,000 population.

 2009-102010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-16 2016-172017-182018-192019-202020-212021-222022-23
National Rate8.08.39.09.79.29.711.012.311.911.310.810.59.79.6