Case referrals by law firm name

Rob Irwin made this Freedom of Information request to Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was successful.

Dear Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service,

This is a revised request

Can you please provide all Cafcass case referrals by solicitor firm when a child needs to be represented in a case e.g. 16.4 for the following areas

Liverpool
Blackburn
Manchester

For the period 2015 to 2021

Please split volume by year, firm name, case type.

Yours faithfully,

Rob Irwin

Yours faithfully,

Rob Irwin

Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

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Dear Governance,

Please respond openly on this platform and not privately through egress.

This is a simple request and should be responded to publicly.

Yours sincerely,

Rob Irwin

Dear Governance,

Please reply publicly to this request and not via secret egress accounts marked private and confidential.

Yours sincerely,

Rob Irwin

Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

1 Attachment

Dear Rob Irwin,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Please accept this as a formal acknowledgement of your request to Cafcass
on 31^st May 2022.

 

Your reference number is CAF22-25871.

 

We aim to respond to you promptly, and at the latest 20 working days from
receipt of your request. You will therefore receive a response on or
before 29^th June 2022.

 

 

Kind regards,

Governance Team | Cafcass

* [1][CAFCASS request email] | ü [2]www.cafcass.gov.uk 

[3]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

 

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Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

1 Attachment

Dear Rob Irwin,

 

Cafcass may hold some information relevant to your request. However, we
are unable to proceed with your request without further clarification.

Section 1(3) of the Freedom of Information Act states that where a public
authority reasonably requires further information in order to identify and
locate the information requested, and has informed the applicant of that
requirement, the authority is not obliged to comply with subsection (1)
unless it is supplied with that further information.

We would therefore be grateful if you could clarify the following points:

 

Can you please provide all Cafcass case referrals by solicitor firm when a
child needs to be represented in a case e.g. 16.4 for the following areas

 

Liverpool

Blackburn

Manchester

 

For the period 2015 to 2021

 

Please split volume by year, firm name, case type.

 

It is not clear what you mean by Cafcass case referrals by solicitor firm
as the procedure when a court determines that a child should be joined as
a party and be represented by a children’s guardian is that the court 
makes a direction in those terms and sends it to Cafcass. Cafcass will
then allocate the case to a named Family Court Advisor whose duty it is to
instruct a solicitor to represent the child. There is no relationship
between the solicitor and Cafcass as the instruction comes from the
guardian and not Cafcass. Once the solicitor is instructed they will
usually  apply for legal aid for the child and the costs of representation
are met by the Legal Aid Agency.

 

Cafcass does hold data on the numbers of cases in which a children’s
guardian is appointed, are you able to clarify if this is the information
you are seeking?

 

Please send your clarified request to [1][email address]. Please
note that as per the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance, the
20-working day timeframe will commence the next working day following
receipt of the clarified request.

 

Kind regards,

 

Kind regards,

Governance Team | Cafcass

* [2][CAFCASS request email] | ü [3]www.cafcass.gov.uk 

[4]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

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Dear Governance,

Thank you for the response for further clarification.

You state

"Cafcass will then allocate the case to a named Family Court Advisor whose duty it is to instruct a solicitor to represent the child. There is no relationship
between the solicitor and Cafcass as the instruction comes from the guardian and not Cafcass".

This is explicit in that the guardian appoints the solicitor which has to be registered with Cafcass for compliance and conflict of interest reasons.

Can you please provide all case referrals made by guardians (as allocated by Cafcass) by solicitor firm when a child needs to be represented in a case e.g. 16.4 for the following areas

Liverpool

Blackburn

Manchester

For the period 2015 to 2021

Please split volume by year, firm name, case type.

I believe this request is simple in that it's a list of all solicitor firms that have been appointed by Cafcass or the allocated guardian as set out above.

Yours sincerely,

Rob Irwin

Dear Governance,

As a follow up to your below statement;

"Cafcass will then allocate the case to a named Family Court Advisor whose duty it is to instruct a solicitor to represent the child. There is no relationship
between the solicitor and Cafcass as the instruction comes from the guardian and not Cafcass."

Please can Cafcass provide
1. the governance process as to how a guardian can instruct a solicitor independently

2. The panel of approved solicitors

3. The name of the guardian and the appointed solicitor split by if on panel or off panel

4. The due diligence Cafacss undertakes on solicitors appointed by guardians

5. Any conflict of interest raised following point (4)

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Rob Irwin

Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

5 Attachments

Dear Rob Irwin,

 

Thank you for your email. Please find attached our response to your
Freedom of Information

 

Kind regards,

Governance Team | Cafcass

* [1][CAFCASS request email] | ü [2]www.cafcass.gov.uk 

[3]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

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Dear Governance,

Thank you for providing this data.

Yours sincerely,

Rob Irwin

Dear Governance,

Once again, thank you for your reply.

I am seeking clarity on some of the points.

Point 2

In (2) you say "The court appoints an officer of the service as a children's guardian under section 41 of Children’s Act 89 and rule 16.4 Family Procedure Rules, it does not appoint Cafcass".

Can you clarify what this means? Does it mean anyone can be appointed as an "officer of the service". What criteria is required to fulfil the role of "officer of service".

If a Cafcass guardian was to resign on an active case, who has jurisdiction to appoint a replacement; is it Cafcass or the Court?

Point 3

Can you confirm the guardian has autonomy to approve any solicitor they see fit so far as it is on the Law Society membership list?

You say Cafcass "relies on the Law Society Children’s Panel to appoint appropriate solicitors". Can you share the formal documentation that Cafcass relies on and the due diligence carried out on.

Does Cafcass rely solely on membership of this body?

Point 5

Please clarify explicitly in FPR 2010 the rule that supports "Cafcass does not appoint solicitors as this is a responsibility of the court appointed guardian in line with the Family Procedure Rules 2010".

Point 6

You state "Please also be note that solicitors will undertake a conflict check before taking on any new instructions."

Does this apply to existing proceedings or is the solely new proceedings? For example in (2) if a Cafcass guardian was to resign on an active case, would the existing solicitor undertake a conflict check with any newly appointed guardian?

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Rob Irwin

Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

2 Attachments

Dear Rob Irwin,

 

Thank you for your email. Please find attached our response to your
Freedom of Information clarification request.

 

Kind regards,

Governance Team | Cafcass

* [1][CAFCASS request email] | ü [2]www.cafcass.gov.uk 

[3]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

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Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

2 Attachments

Dear Rob Irwin,

 

Please see attached correspondence with regards to your recent request.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

 

Governance Team | Cafcass

* [1][CAFCASS request email] | ü [2]www.cafcass.gov.uk 

[3]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

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Dear Governance,

Please can you provide the same data from the last date of your report to the current date with the same criteria.

Yours sincerely,

Rob Irwin

Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

1 Attachment

Dear Rob Irwin,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Please accept this as a formal acknowledgement of your request to Cafcass
on 10^th July 2023.

 

Your reference number is CAF23-30324.

 

We aim to respond to you promptly, and at the latest 20 working days from
receipt of your request. You will therefore receive a response on or
before 4^th August 2023.  

 

 

Kind regards,

Information Assurance Team | Cafcass

* [1][CAFCASS request email] | ü [2]www.cafcass.gov.uk 

[3]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

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Governance, Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service

5 Attachments

Dear Rob Irwin,  

 

Please see attached correspondence with regards to your recent request.

 

Kind regards,

Information Assurance Team | Cafcass

* [1][CAFCASS request email] | ü [2]www.cafcass.gov.uk 

[3]Cafcass_Logo_2014_email

 

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