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Immediate release – 9^th January 2013

Care application levels remain up on last year

December 2012 statistics from Cafcass show increase continues

In December 2012, Cafcass received a total of 847 applications. This is a 4.3% increase on December 2011 levels, though it is 11% down on November 2012 levels, likely due to the seasonal reduction in demand that occurs each December.

From April 2012 onwards:

Between April and December 2012 Cafcass received a total of 8,135 applications. This figure is 8% higher when compared to the same period last year.
The 984 applications received in May 2012 and 989 applications received in July 2012 remain the highest ever recorded for single months.
Applications received during all months bar June this financial year have been the highest ever recorded by Cafcass for these individual months.
The comparatively lower demand in June 2012 is believed to be due to the lack of working days available due to the special bank holidays this year.

April 2011-March 2012:

During 2011-12, Cafcass received 10,236 new applications.
This figure is 11.2% higher when compared to previous financial year.
Applications received between May 2011 to February 2012 during this year have been the highest ever recorded by Cafcass for these individual months.

April 2010-March 2011:

During 2010-11 Cafcass experienced a 4.2% increase in care applications with 9,204 new applications up from 8,832 in 2009-10.
The 8,832 figure for 2009-10 itself saw a 36% increase in the number of applications received compared to 2008-2009.

Care Stats Dec 2012

Month	08-09	09-10	10-11	11-12	12-13
apr	380	682	692	679	756
may	399	648	686	836	984
jun	369	798	774	861	808
jul	485	793	848	873	989
aug	492	687	777	891	979
sep	483	722	759	842	878
oct	496	726	731	861	943
nov	592	769	826	879	951
dec	719	746	689	812	847
jan	666	670	698	921
feb	659	736	826	889
mar	748	855	897	901

Total	6,488	8,832	9,203	10,245	8,135

Cafcass homepage: www.cafcass.gov.uk

- ENDS -

For media enquiries, please contact:
Molly Garboden, Communications Manager
0844 353 3319 (direct) | 07768 796 484 (mobile)
Molly.Garboden@Cafcass.gsi.gov.uk

Notes for editors:

Figures in the above table and graph are provided from the Cafcass national case management system (CMS). The unit of measurement is a care application, upon its receipt by Cafcass from the Court and its entry into CMS. An application can involve multiple children. CMS is a live system and any late entries will be accounted for at the time of release of subsequent updates to this data. Updates to this information will be published on a monthly basis, in the second week of each month.
Pre-release of these statistics has been made available to the Children's Minister in accordance with The Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008.
Click here to view previous care statistics releases.
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) represents children in family court cases, making sure that their voices are heard and that the decisions that are made about them are in their best interests. Safeguarding is a top priority for Cafcass, as are the wishes and feelings of the children involved.
Cafcass supports over 100,000 children in public and private law cases every year.
Cafcass operates 17 service areas across England, with nearly 2,000 employees working throughout 56 offices.
Cafcass’ role is to work with children and families in the family courts. The following list provides some examples of the types of cases we work with:-
- Adoption (public law)
- Care Orders (public law)
- Emergency Protection Orders (public law)
- Residency and contact following divorce and separation (private law)
Cafcass is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Education.

Cafcass - Putting children first in family courts

Care application levels remain up on last year

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