Ed Balls has announced a far-reaching review of the family courts and promised more help for parents who have separated, including greater access to mediation.
The Families and Relationships Green Paper, published today, says that the interests of the child should be paramount in the family justice system. It sets out plans for a review of the management and leadership of the family courts.
“The adversarial nature of the private law system is sometimes perceived to inflame rather than reduce parental conflict,” the document says. “The process can be emotionally and financially draining for parents and distressing for children.”
The review, which will report back in 2011, will investigate proposals to increase the number of out-of-court settlements, and the Government also wants to increase the use of mediation among broken families.
More than 50,000 cases are referred to the Children and Family Courts Advisory Service every year involving parents who are fighting over access rights to their children.
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Mr Balls, the Children’s Secretary, said: “We want to look at how to get more of these cases out of court. They cost us £800 million a year on private law disputes about custody – that’s expensive. It takes a long time, it can be antagonistic and painful. It’s far better to get them out of the courts initially.”
A pilot scheme offering parenting courses for couples who have separated was also announced. The aim of Parenting Apart Together will be to help couples who have split to cope with raising their children after the separation.
In 2009 one in four children was living with a lone parent. Half of all lone parents are either separated or divorced and divorce is the main route to being a single parent.
There will also be a review of paternity leave, including the possible introduction of a paternity allowance and reducing the length of notice fathers have to give their employers from 15 weeks.
“Evidence suggests that fathers are currently less likely to take additional time off if there is a choice to be made as to which partner does so. This is often due to financial reasons, and fathers from lower income families are less likely to take their full entitlement of paternity leave around the birth,” the Government’s legislative plan says.
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“There is an argument that 15 weeks’ notice is disproportionate for a two-week leave period and a risk that fathers could lose out on their paternity leave because they give their notice late. The Department for Business will review the notice period and consult on this later this year.”