Private law data
Private law demand is generally used to refer to applications made following a divorce or separation about the arrangements for children, such as where a child will live or with whom a child will spend time.
Note: Cafcass private law demand statistics are published on the tenth working day of each month. Figures are provided from our national databases, the current electronic case management system (ECMS) and historical case management system (CMS). In private law the unit of measurement is a case (note a case can involve multiple children and multiple application types). These are counted upon receipt of the application from the court and entry into the database. The ECMS is a live system and any late entries will be accounted for upon the release of subsequent updates to this data.
If you have any queries about the private law statistics, please contact us via our website form.
-
Monthly statistics
The number of private law cases received per month nationally can be seen in the table below.
Latest release: We received 4,659 new private law cases in March 2021 which is 1,282 cases (38.0%) more than the same period in 2020. These cases involved 6,627 children, which is 1,489 (29.0%) more children than March 2020.
You can download March 2021 private law demand data, which contains the latest official statistics for private law demand.
Private law cases received
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
Cases
Children
Cases
Children
Cases
Children
Cases
Children
Cases
Children
Apr 3,466 5,174 3,134 4,705 3,458 5,227 3,607 5,437
2,555
3,895
May 3,166 4,770 3,628 5,525 3,634 5,600 3,851 5,924
3,341
5,140
Jun 3,487 5,259 3,814 5,778 3,392 5,152 3,617 5,540
3,772
5,765
Jul 3,370 5,065 3,616 5,437 3,682 5,713 4,268 6,497
4,524
6,904
Aug 3,438 5,223 3,639 5,481 3,949 6,000 3,727 5,702
3,691
5,556
Sep 3,494 5,236 3,550 5,499 3,427 5,209 3,717 5,723
4,186
6,457
Oct 3,377 5,101 3,810 5,794 3,973 6,014 4,279 6,520
4,162
6,384
Nov 3,491 5,241 3,745 5,715 4,012 6,052 3,946 6,063
4,042
6,069
Dec 2,843 4,303 2,736 4,141 3,040 4,726 3,195 4,879 3,468 5,318 Jan 3,238 4,891 3,506 5,282 3,561 5,453 4,008 6,063 3,587 5,452 Feb 3,328 4,994 3,089 4,722 3,629 5,554 3,809 5,805 3,793 5,745 Mar 3,807 5,687 3,526 5,400 4,067 6,137 3,377 5,138 4,659 6,627 Total 40,505
60,944
41,793
63,479
43,824
66,837
45,401
69,291
45,780
69,312 -
Annual summaries
April 2020 – March 2021
- Between April 2020 and March 2021 Cafcass received a total of 45,780 new private law cases.
- This figure shows a 0.8% increase compared with the previous financial year.
April 2019 – March 2020
- Between April 2019 and March 2020 Cafcass received a total of 45,694 new private law cases.
- This figure shows a 4.20% increase compared with the previous financial year.
April 2018 – March 2019
- Between April 2018 and March 2019 Cafcass received a total of 43,842 new private law cases.
- This figure shows a 4.9% increase compared with the previous financial year.
April 2017 – March 2018
- Between April 2017 and March 2018 Cafcass received a total of 41,794 new private law cases.
- This figure shows a 3.1% increase compared with the previous financial year.
April 2016 – March 2017
- Between April 2016 and March 2017 Cafcass received a total of 40,506 new private law cases.
- This figure shows an 8.3% increase compared with the previous financial year.
Updates to this information is published on an annual basis.