Putting children and young people first in the family courts

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 eighth 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 applications received per month nationally can be seen in the table below.

    Latest release: We received 27,316 new private law cases from April to October 2019 – 1,788 (7.0%) more than the same period in 2018. These cases involved 40,511 children – 1,583 (4.1%) more than April to October 2018.

    You can download October 2019 Private law demand, which contains the latest official statistics for private law demand.

     

    Private law cases received

    2016-17

    2017-18

    2018-19

    2019-20

    Cases

    Children

    Cases

    Children

    Cases

    Children

    Cases

    Children
    Apr

           3,465

    5,172

    3,132

    4,704

    3,459

    5,223

    3,627

    5,463
    May

           3,168

    4,772

    3,625

    5,520

    3,633

    5,597

    3,870

    5,949
    Jun

            3,481

    5,252

    3,815

    5,778

    3,389

    5,146

    3,642

    5,580
    Jul

     3,372

    5,070

    3,612

    5,428

    3,690

    5,728

    4,283

    6,513
    Aug

     3,437

    5,218

    3,639

    5,486

    3,945

    5,992

    3,769

    5,776
    Sep

           3,493

    5,234

    3,551

    5,499

    3,430

    5,210

    3,764

    5,779
    Oct

     3,378

    5,104

    3,814

    5,801

    3,982

    6,032

    4,361

    5,451
    Nov

           3,490

    5,239

    3,742

    5,710

    4,014

    6,053

    Dec

             2,842

    4,302

    		 2,738 4,143 3,047 4,726
    Jan

           3,240

    4,896

    		 3,504 5,287 3,564 5,454
    Feb

             3,329

    4,995

    		 3,088 4,718 3,639 5,564
    Mar

    3,808

    5,688

    		 3,526 5,400 4,072 6,142
    Total

    40,503

    60,942

    41,786

    63,474

    43,865

    66,867

    27,316

    40,511

     

  • Annual summaries

    April 2018 – March 2019

    • Between April 2018 and March 2019 Cafcass received a total of 43,865 new private law cases.
    • This figure shows a 5% increase compared with the previous financial year.

     

    April 2017 – March 2018

    • Between April 2017 and March 2018 Cafcass received a total of 41,782 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 40,536 new private law cases.
    • This figure shows an 8.3% increase compared with the previous financial year.

     

    April 2015 – March 2016

    • Between April 2015 and March 2016 Cafcass received a total of 37,415 new private law cases.
    • This figure shows a 10% increase compared with the previous financial year.

     

    April 2014 – March 2015

    • Between April 2014 and March 2015 Cafcass received a total of 34,119 new private law cases.
    • This figure shows a 27% decrease compared with the previous financial year.

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