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.
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Monthly statistics
The number of private law applications received per month nationally can be seen in the table below.
Latest release: We received 3,721 new cases during February 2019. This is 20.2% (625 cases) higher than February 2018 and highest demand for February since 2013.
You can download February 2019 private law demand statistics, which contains the latest official statistics for private law demand.
Private law cases received
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
Apr 3,190
2,859
3,463
3,135
3,472
May 2,141
2,792
3,170
3,636
3,652
Jun 2,596
3,372
3,486
3,814
*3,392
Jul 2,892
3,466
3,376
3,614
3,686
Aug 2,502
2,868
3,449
3,630
3,960
Sep 2,819
3,011
3,493
3,550
3,441
Oct 3,367
3,226
3,381
3,824
**4,010
Nov 3,095
3,357
3,492
3,746
4,035
Dec 2,663
2,917
2,842
2,743 3,076 Jan 2,753
2,876
3,240
3,511 3,608 Feb 2,929
3,300
3,333
3,096 ***3,721 Mar 3,172
3,371
3,811
3,524 Total 34,119
37,415
40,536
41,823
40,053
*Please note that a significant IT transition in June 2018 may have affected monthly totals for June.
**Please note that technical issues affecting court processes may have affected October’s monthly total.
***Please note that we consider February’s monthly total to be an outlier compared to recent years.
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Annual summaries
April 2017 – March 2018
- Between April 2017 and March 2018 Cafcass received a total of 41,844 new private law cases.
- This figure shows a 3.3% 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% 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.
All individual months, bar April 2014, saw the lowest number of new cases ever recorded by Cafcass for those months. May 2014 was the lowest number of new cases ever recorded for Cafcass.