Family Court Statistics Quarterly – October to December 2015
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Family Court Statistics. The bulletin presents the latest statistics on the type and volume of family cases that are received and processed through the justice system of England and Wales.

It focuses on all areas of family justice including public and private law cases; matrimonial matters e.g. divorce; domestic violence remedy orders; forced marriage protection orders; female genital mutilation protection orders; adoption; mental capacity e.g. Court of Protection and Office of the Public Guardian, and the Probate Service.  Data available include number of cases starting and disposed of, applications and orders made, timeliness measures and legal representation.  Data are available at a national, regional and designated family judge (DFJ) area. 

These statistics are used to monitor court workloads, assist in the development of family justice policy and its subsequent monitoring and evaluation.

Family Court Statistics 
Quarterly, England and Wales 
 
October to December 2015 
 
Ministry of Justice 
Statistics bulletin  
 
 
 
 
Published 31 March 2016 

Contents  
Contents 
1 
Introduction 
2 
Key Findings 
4 
Section 1 - The Family Justice System 
6 
Section 2 - Public Law 
7 
Section 3 - Private Law 
11 
Section 4 - Legal representation 
13 
Section 5 - Matrimonial matters 
16 
Section 6 - Domestic violence remedy orders 
19 
Section 7 - Forced Marriage Protection Orders 
20 
Section 8 - Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders 
21 
Section 9 - Adoptions 
22 
Section 10 - The Mental Capacity Act 
23 
Section 11 - The Probate Service 
27 
Contacts 
29 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
2 
Introduction 
This statistical bulletin presents statistics relating to family courts, which 
were previously published within Court Statistics Quarterly.  
It presents statistics on activity in the family courts of England and Wales 
and provides provisional figures for the latest quarter (October to December 
2015) with accompanying commentary and analysis. The figures give a 
summary overview of the volume of cases dealt with by these courts over 
time, with statistics also broken down for the main types of case involved.  
Figures on Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders (FGMPOs), which 
were introduced in July 2015, are published in this bulletin for the second 
time. 
The statistics in this bulletin are used to monitor court workloads, to assist in 
the development of policy, and their subsequent monitoring and evaluation. 
Information on civil cases can be found here:  
www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-justice-statistics  
Information on criminal cases can be found here:  
www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly  
Information on publicly funding legal services is now published by the Legal 
Aid Agency and can be found here:  
www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics 
There is also a separate Guide to Family Court Statistics published 
alongside this publication which provides definitions for the terms used in 
this report, information regarding the symbols and conventions used in the 
bulletin, as well as information about the systems and data sources used to 
compile the statistics.  
The structure and content of this report are continually being reviewed to 
reflect user requirements. If you have any feedback about the report 
generally, please contact the production team using the contact details at 
the back of this report. 
Earlier editions of the information presented in this bulletin are in the Family 
chapters of the Court Statistics Quarterly publications which can be found at: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/court-statistics-quarterly  
There are a number of CSV files that support this publication, in the 
accompanying zip file. Further information about these files can be found in 
the word document ‘Guide to Family Justice - Guide to national and court-
level information.doc’, which is also included in the zip file. The CSV files 
contain:  

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
3 
 Selected summary of family cases by Designated Family Judge area 
and region. 
 Additional breakdowns and further details for each of the ‘main tables’ 
published alongside this document. 
The next edition of Family Court Statistics Quarterly is scheduled to be 
published on 30 June 2016, covering the period January to March 2016. 
Users of the statistics 
The main users of these statistics are Ministers and officials in central 
government responsible for developing policy with regard to family justice. 
Other users include the central government departments, and various 
voluntary organisations with an interest in family justice. The data also feed 
into statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics, such as public 
sector productivity. 
 
 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
4 
Key Findings 
This report presents statistics on activity in the family courts of England and 
Wales in the fourth quarter of 2015 (October to December).   
 The number of cases that started in family courts in England and 
Wales in October to December 2015 was 62,456, up 6% compared 
to the equivalent quarter of 2014, but maintaining a fairly steady flat 
trend. Nearly half of new cases are divorce cases. 
 The average time for the disposal of a care or supervision application 
made in October to December 2015 was 28 weeks, and the trend 
over the past year has remained stable at this level following the 
longer term downward trend seen since 2011. 
 60% of care or supervision proceedings were disposed of within 26 
weeks, following on from the 26 week time limit for completing these 
cases introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014. 
 There has been a decrease in the time taken for private law cases 
overall in the last year: down 1.3 weeks to 14.1 weeks – trend seen 
post-LASPO reforms during 2013 and early 2014 now seems to be 
reversing with timeliness returning to pre-LASPO levels. 
 Following a rise in the number of applications for non-molestation 
domestic violence remedy orders during 2013, the trend has 
remained steady over the last two years. 
 Following their introduction in July 2015, there were 47 applications 
and 32 orders made for Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders 
(FGMPOs) up to the end of December 2015. 
 The recent downward trend in the number of adoption orders issued 
was maintained, with an 11% drop seen in October to December 
2015 compared to the equivalent quarter for 2014, driven by the 
number of adoption orders issued to male/female couples falling by 
16%. 
 There has been a gradual upward trend in the total number of 
applications and orders made under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. 
 Applications relating to deprivation of liberty increased from 109 in 
2013 to 525 in 2014 to 1,499 in 2015. There were 489 applications 
made in the latest quarter October to December 2015. The overall 
upward trend follows the Supreme Court decision on 19 March 20141 
whereby it was considered a person could be deprived of their liberty 
                                            
1 P v Cheshire West and Chester Council and P and Q v Surrey County Council  [2014] 
UKSC 19 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
5 
in their own home, sheltered accommodation etc, and not just the 
nursing homes and hospitals which were previously covered. 
 There were 134,363 Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) in October to 
December 2015, the highest quarterly figure so far and up 40% on 
the same quarter for 2014. This is largely due to increased publicity 
and new online forms which have been introduced to make it simpler 
and faster to apply for LPAs. 
 There were nearly 275,000 grants of representation issued by the 
Probate Service in 2015, the highest annual figure since 2007. 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
6 
Section 1 - The Family Justice System 
Until 22 April 2014, family cases were dealt with at Family Proceedings 
Courts (which were part of the magistrates’ courts), at county courts or in 
the Family Division of the High Court.  From 22 April 2014, all family cases 
are now dealt with in the Single Family Court. 
Family courts deal with cases such as: parental disputes, local authority 
intervention to protect children, matrimonial cases such as divorce petitions, 
the financial provisions for children after divorce or relationship breakdown, 
domestic violence remedies and adoption. 
Total family court case caseload (Table 1) 
In October to December 2015, 62,456 new cases started in family courts 
and 52,404 cases were concluded. Table 1 shows the total number of new 
cases starting and cases reaching a conclusion in family courts in each 
quarter from 2011. Figure 1 below shows the trend in cases started over 
time by case type from January to March 2011 to October to December 
2015.  
Figure 1: New family cases started, by case type, January to March 
2011 to October to December 2015 
 
 
 
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
Q1
Q2
Q3 
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1 
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Children Act - public law
Children Act - private law
Matrimonial Matters
Financial remedies
Family law - Domestic violence
Adoption Act

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
7 
Section 2 - Public Law 
Public law cases are those brought by local authorities or, very rarely, an 
authorised person to protect the child and ensure they get the care they 
need. They can apply for a range of different orders. Types of order include 
a care or supervision order which determines whether the child should be 
looked after or supervised by the local authority, or an emergency protection 
order which allows an individual or local authority to take a child away from 
a place where they are in immediate danger to a place of safety.  
Following the publicity surrounding the Baby P case, the number of children 
involved in public law applications made by local authorities jumped in 2009 
from around 20,000 to almost 26,000 per year. This had subsequently 
increased to nearly 30,000 per year. Figures subsequently remained fairly 
steady at around 7,000 per quarter, but there has been an increase in the 
two most recent quarters, with 7,958 children involved in public law 
applications in October to December 2015 (Figure 2).  
The number of applications made, which can cover more than one child, 
was 4,546 in October to December 2015 – on average, there were 1.75 
children involved in each application. More than one application may be 
made during the life of a case. The numbers of cases started in October to 
December 2015 was 4,217 (Table 2). 
Figure 2: Public law applications: number of children involved, number 
of application events and number of cases started, January to March 
2011 to October to December 2015 
 
There were 10,298 children involved in public law orders made in October to 
December 2015. The number of orders made is generally higher than the 
number of applications made, as some orders relate to applications made in 
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
Q1 
2011
Q2 
2011
Q3 
2011
Q4 
2011
Q1 
2012
Q2 
2012
Q3 
2012
Q4 
2012
Q1 
2013
Q2 
2013
Q3 
2013
Q4 
2013
Q1 
2014
Q2 
2014
Q3 
2014
Q4 
2014
Q1 
2015
Q2 
2015
Q3 
2015
Q4 
2015
Number of applications / events / cases started
Children involved in applications
Application events
Cases started

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
8 
an earlier time period, and an application for one type can result in an order 
or orders of a different type being made.  
Figure 3 shows that the most common types of order applied for in October 
to December 2015 were for care (73% of children involved in applications). 
There is often a different pattern between the types of order applications 
and the orders that are given – this is because an application for one type 
can result in an order of a different type being made. For example, there 
were 419 children involved in applications for a supervision order in October 
to December 2015, compared to 1,945 children involved in supervision 
orders made in that same quarter. The trend in disposals tends to lag 
behind that for applications, due to the time taken for a decision to be 
reached in cases. 
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) also 
publishes data on the number of care applications, the latest edition of 
which can be found here: 
https://www.cafcass.gov.uk/leaflets-resources/organisational-material/care-
and-private-law-demand-statistics/care-demand-statistics.aspx 
Case level care order figures are currently not produced by the MoJ and so 
comparisons between the two datasets cannot be made at this time.  
Figure 3: Public law applications and orders made, showing proportion 
of children involved in each order type, October to December 2015 
 
 
 
 
Care
73%
EPO
6%
Supervision
5%
Discharge of care
6%
Other
10%
Children involved in applications
N= 7,958
Care
31%
Supervision
19%
Residence
12%
SG
13%
Contact
7%
EPO
2%
Parental resp
4%
Other 
12%
Children involved in orders made
N=10,298
EPO = Emergency protection order, SG = Special guardianship order, Parental resp = Parental responsibility order

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
9 
Timeliness of care proceedings  
Statistics on the time taken to complete care and supervision cases in the 
family courts of England and Wales are given in Table 5. This table presents 
summary statistics showing the time, in weeks, between the date an 
application for a care or supervision order was lodged and the date the first 
care, supervision, or other substantive order was made in the case, for 
those cases disposed of during each quarter.  
The long term downward trend seen since 2011 in the average time for a 
disposal to be made stabilised around 29 weeks from July 2014, and then 
dropped again slightly to 27.5 weeks in the latest quarter (October to 
December 2015) (Figure 4).  
Figure 4: Timeliness for care and supervision proceedings in the 
Family Court, January to March 2011 to October to December 2015 
 
The average time for a disposal can be skewed by cases that take a long 
time, and so the median time is also calculated. The median time to make a 
disposal in a case was 25 weeks in October to December 2015 for all 
children involved in care and supervision proceedings where a decision was 
reached during October to December 2015. This indicates that half of the 
children waited 25 weeks or less from application to a substantive disposal, 
and the other half waited at least 25 weeks. This median value is different to 
the average (mean) quoted in the paragraph above as it is not influenced by 
the few very long case durations. 
Figure 5 shows how many children were involved in each timeliness band in 
their case proceedings for cases disposed in October to December 2015.  
 
 
 
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Q1 
2011
Q2 
2011
Q3 
2011
Q4 
2011
Q1 
2012
Q2 
2012
Q3 
2012
Q4 
2012
Q1 
2013
Q2 
2013
Q3 
2013
Q4 
2013
Q1 
2014
Q2 
2014
Q3 
2014
Q4 
2014
Q1 
2015
Q2 
2015
Q3 
2015
Q4 
2015
Mean timeliness for care and supervision proceedings 
(in weeks)

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
10
Figure 5: Timeliness for care and supervision proceedings showing 
number of children involved in each timeliness band, October to 
December 2015 
 
 
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
0-5
10-15
20-25
30-35
40-45
50-55
60-65
70-75
80-85
90-95
100-105
110-115
120-125
130-135
140-145
150-155
>160
Number of children involved   
Timeliness (weeks)
MEDIAN
MEAN

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
11
Section 3 - Private Law 
The number of Private law cases started in October to December 2015 was 
11,180, up 8% from the equivalent quarter in 2014. 
In comparison, for cases disposed in October to December 2015 there was 
a slight drop of 5% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2014. 
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) also 
publishes (England only) data on the number of private law cases started, 
the latest edition of which can be found here: 
https://www.cafcass.gov.uk/leaflets-resources/organisational-material/care-
and-private-law-demand-statistics/private-law-demand-statistics.aspx 
These are compared against figures in this bulletin in Figure 6, which shows 
that the two trends are very similar.  
Figure 6: Comparison of the number of Private law cases received, as 
recorded by Cafcass and the MoJ (England only), January to March 
2011 to October to December 2015 
 
For the last two years the difference between the two sets of figures has 
been 9%, and this is mostly due to Cafcass generally only receiving section 
8 cases (contact, residence, prohibited steps and specific issue) from the 
courts. Other differences between the two data sets include the following: 
 Section 8 cases where all of the issues are dealt with on the day (called 
'urgent without notice' applications) should not be sent to Cafcass. 
Q1 
2011
Q2 
2011
Q3 
2011
Q4 
2011
Q1 
2012
Q2 
2012
Q3 
2012
Q4 
2012
Q1 
2013
Q2 
2013
Q3 
2013
Q4 
2013
Q1 
2014
Q2 
2014
Q3 
2014
Q4 
2014
Q1 
2015
Q2 
2015
Q3 
2015
Q4 
2015
Cafcass 11,103 9,082 10,670 10,613 11,422 10,691 11,750 11,445 11,719 13,547 12,366 10,303 10,420 7,927
8,211
9,119
8,859
9,049
9,379
9,573
MoJ
12,620 9,900 12,004 11,457 12,317 11,559 12,748 11,916 12,608 14,377 13,043 10,808 11,205 8,620
9,955
9,639
9,848
9,839 10,367 10,482
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
Number of private law cases received

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
12
 Section 8 cases which are not listed within the Private Law Programme 
(PLP) and do not have a first hearing dispute resolution appointment 
(FHDRA) should also not be sent to Cafcass. 
 Certain non-section 8 cases can be sent to Cafcass if the subject child 
is a party to ongoing proceedings (and a Cafcass officer has been 
appointed as the children’s guardian) or the court is directed to do so 
by a judge or legal advisor. 
This means that the two sets of figures cannot be accurately matched as it 
is impossible to identify the various situations described above from 
administrative data sources (particularly the 'urgent without notice' 
applications). 
Timeliness of private law cases 
Table 6 shows that from the middle of 2012 to the end of March 2014, for 
private law cases overall the average time to first definitive disposal had 
been on a slight upward trend. In the most recent quarters, this trend has 
been reversing with the average time to first disposal at 14.1 weeks for 
October to December 2015 (down 1.3 weeks from the equivalent quarter in 
2014).  
For more details on the timeliness in private law cases please see Section 4 
below. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
13
Section 4 - Legal representation 
Figures on the legal representation of parties in family-related court cases 
are shown in Table 6. This gives the number of disposals made during each 
quarter and the average duration between application and first substantive 
disposal, for divorce, public law, private law, adoption and domestic violence 
cases, according to whether the applicant(s), respondent(s), both or neither 
had legal representation during the case. 
A further breakdown of Table 6 by region is published in the CSV files that 
accompany this publication. 
The legal representation status reflects whether the applicant/respondent's 
legal representative has been recorded or left blank within FamilyMan, the 
family court case management system. Therefore, parties recorded as 
without legal representation are not necessarily self-representing litigants in 
person - for example, Table 6 suggests that for half of the divorce cases not 
involving financial remedies disposed, neither party had legal 
representation. However, further analysis shows that these were 
uncontested cases and almost all of them did not have a single hearing. 
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offender Act, 2012 
The implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of 
Offenders Act (LASPO) in April 2013 made changes to the scope and 
eligibility of legal aid. 
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA - formerly the Legal Services Commission) 
collects statistics on those applying for legal aid, and figures on the number 
applications received and certificates granted by various Family categories 
have been published in their annual and quarterly statistical reports which 
can be found here: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics 
From April 2013, legal aid is now only available for private family law cases 
(such as contact or divorce) if there is evidence of domestic violence or child 
abuse and child abduction cases. Legal aid remains available for public 
family law cases (such as adoption).  
The full details of the LASPO Act can be found here: 
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/10/enacted 
The removal of legal aid for many private law cases has resulted in a 
change in the pattern of legal representation, and Figure 7 shows how this 
has changed over the time. Around the time that the LASPO reforms were 
implemented there was a marked increase in the number and proportion of 
cases where neither party are represented, with an equivalent drop in the 
proportion of those cases where both parties were represented.  In the most 
recent quarters, there has been some volatility in the proportion of cases 
that have representation for the ‘applicant only’ and ‘both applicant and 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
14
respondent’ representation – both appear now to be in line with the overall 
general trend.  Quarter on quarter changes should be treated with caution. 
Figure 7: Proportion of parties in private law cases with legal 
representation, January to March 2011 to October to December 2015 
 
Timeliness of cases by legal representation 
In general, across all case types, cases where either both parties or the 
respondent only had legal representation took longer than those cases 
where only the applicant was represented or where both parties were 
without legal representation. Figure 8 shows the average duration by case 
type in October to December 2015. 
Figure 8: Timeliness of cases according to legal representation of 
participants, by case type, October to December 2015 
 
21%
36%
11%
32%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Jan-
Mar
Apr-
Jun
Jul-
Sept
Oct-
Dec
Jan-
Mar
Apr-
Jun
Jul-
Sept
Oct-
Dec
Jan-
Mar
Apr-
Jun
Jul-
Sept
Oct-
Dec
Jan-
Mar
Apr-
Jun
Jul-
Sept
Oct-
Dec
Jan-
Mar
Apr-
Jun
Jul-
Sept
Oct-
Dec
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
% of Private Law cases by legal representation
Both Applicant and Respondent
Applicant only
Respondent only
Neither Applicant nor Respondent
Both Applicant & 
Respondent
Applicant Only
Respondent Only
Neither Applicant 
nor Respondent
All Cases
Public Law
29.5
18.0
26.6
17.0
26.6
Divorce (inc financial remedy)
28.0
21.5
33.3
23.4
25.1
Private Law
16.3
11.4
18.6
14.2
14.1
Adoption
38.0
19.2
22.7
15.8
16.4
Domestic violence
0.9
0.3
0.6
0.8
0.5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Average duration (weeks)

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
15
The average duration for public law disposals overall fell steadily from the 
middle of 2012 until the beginning of 2014 since when it has remained fairly 
steady. For adoption cases overall average duration has remained fairly 
constant over recent years. Note that adoption timeliness in Q3 2014 was 
higher because of a data cleansing exercise in some regions which 
administratively closed old cases.  
For private law cases, the average time to first disposal was generally falling 
until it started to increase during 2013. This rise was driven by increases for 
all representation groups, but particularly in the timeliness of cases where 
both parties were represented. In recent quarters there has been a 
decrease in the timeliness for private law cases overall (Figure 9) with 
timeliness falling for all types of representation, aside from ‘respondent 
only’, which accounts for around 10% of cases resulting in a volatile time 
series.  Quarter on quarter changes should therefore be treated with 
caution. 
Figure 9: Average time to first disposal in private law cases, January 
to March 2011 to October to December 2015 
 
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2 
Q3
Q4 
Q1 
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2 
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2 
Q3
Q4
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Mean number of weeks to first disposal
Both Applicant and Respondent
Applicant only
Respondent only
Neither Applicant nor Respondent
All types

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
16
Section 5 - Matrimonial matters  
Table 7 provides the numbers of petitions and decrees granted for divorce, 
annulment and judicial separation in England and Wales. The National CSV 
file that accompanies this publication provides additional information on 
matrimonial proceedings such as gender of petitioner and whether children 
were involved or not. 
Eleven centralised divorce centres were introduced throughout 2014 and 
2015 in England and Wales, with the vast majority of uncontested decree 
nisi applications being considered by Legal Advisers (rather than district 
judges) at those centres. This should be noted when looking at the relevant 
figures given in the DFJ and Region level CSV file. 
Over 99% of petitions filed for matrimonial proceedings are for divorce. 
There are very small numbers for annulments and judicial separations. 
There were 29,480 petitions in October to December 2015, up 8% 
compared to the same quarter for 2014. However, there were 22,519 
divorces in Q4 2015, down 17% from Q4 2014, and continuing the recent 
downward trend (Table 7). 
In addition to caseload, there are also divorce case progression figures 
presented in this publication. A summary of divorce case progression can 
be found in Table 8 – it shows the number of divorce cases commencing in 
each year since 2003 and in each quarter since 2009, together with the 
proportion of those cases that had reached certain stages by the beginning 
of February 2016 (when the data was extracted for producing this bulletin). 
As mentioned in the previous bulletin, following consultation, two 
alternatives for measuring and presenting timeliness are now produced. The 
first looks at how long it has taken (in weeks) to get to certain stages in the 
relevant court process from the date when the petition was made (and this 
is included in Table 7). The second reports how long it takes, on average, 
for petitions to reach each stage in the process, counted by the number of 
quarters elapsed (Table 9 and Figure 10). 
These methods of presentation provide a better indication of case 
progression as they address the weaknesses identified with the previous 
methodology e.g. they now take account of the correlations between the 
percentages of claims reaching the milestones in different quarters. They 
also incorporate previous quarters’ data, which will reflect any recent 
economic or policy changes. 
 
 
 
 
 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
17
 
 
Figure 10: Percentage of divorce cases started between Q1 2011 to Q4 
2015 reaching certain stages, by the number of quarters since petition, 
England and Wales 
 
 
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
0 to 1
1 to 2
2 to 3
3 to 4
4 to 5
5 to 6
6 to 7
7 to 8
8 to 9
9 to 10
10+
Quarters After Petition
Decree Nisi
Decree Absolute
Financial Remedy Application
Financial Remedy Order
Hearing

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
18
Financial remedy 
 
During a divorce, a marriage annulment, or a judicial separation, or the 
dissolution of a civil partnership, there may still be a need for the court to 
settle disputes over money or property. The court can make a financial 
remedy order, formerly known as ‘ancillary relief’. These orders include 
dealing with the arrangements for the sale or transfer of property, 
maintenance payments, a lump sum payment or the sharing of a pension. 
Orders for financial provision other than for financial remedy are not 
dependent upon divorce proceedings and may be made for children. 
There were 10,529 applications in October to December 2015, unchanged 
from a year earlier (Table 10). 
In October to December 2015, there were 9,062 financial remedy disposals, 
down 10% on the equivalent quarter in 2014, and continuing the recent 
downward trend.  During this latest period, 65% of disposals were 
uncontested, 26% were initially contested, and 9% were contested 
throughout.  
In October to December 2015, property adjustment orders and lump sum 
orders each accounted for about a third of the total financial remedy 
disposal types (Table 11). Figure 11 provides a breakdown of all disposal 
types for the latest quarter. 
Figure 11: Financial remedy disposal types, October to December 2015 
 
Periodical payments
14%
Lump sum orders
30%
Property adjustment 
orders
29%
Pension sharing 
orders
12%
Pension attachment 
orders
4%
Secure provision 
orders
7%
Maintenance pending 
suit
3%
Application dismissed
1%

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
19
Section 6 - Domestic violence remedy orders 
A range of people can apply to the court for a domestic violence remedy 
order: spouses, cohabitants, ex-cohabitants, those who live or have lived in 
the same household (other than by reason of one of them being the other’s 
employee, tenant, lodger or boarder), certain relatives (for example, 
parents, grandparents, in-laws, brothers, sisters), and those who have 
agreed to marry one another. 
Two types of order can be granted:  
 a non-molestation order, which can either prohibit particular behaviour or 
general molestation by someone who has previously been violent 
towards the applicant and/or any relevant children; and, 
 an occupation order, which can define or regulate rights of occupation of 
the home by the parties involved. 
Figure 12: Applications for domestic violence remedy orders, January 
to March 2008 to October to December 2015 
 
As shown in Figure 12, since 2011 the number of occupation applications is 
showing a fairly steady trend, whilst the trend in the number of non-
molestation applications was generally upward although is now showing 
signs of stabilising over the most recent quarters. 
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
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Q1
Q2
Q3
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Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Number of domestic violence applications
Non-Molestation
Occupation

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
20
Section 7 - Forced Marriage Protection Orders 
The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 came into force on 25 
November 2008. The Act amended Part IV of the Family Law Act to enable 
15 designated courts to make Forced Marriage Protection Orders (FMPOs) 
to prevent forced marriages from occurring and to offer protection to victims 
who might have already been forced into a marriage.  
The number of applications and orders made for FMPOs is very small. In 
October to December 2015, there were 70 applications and 51 orders made 
(Table 13).  The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 came 
into force on 16 June 2014 and made it an offence to force a person to 
marry against their will, or to breach a FMPO, such that courts can no 
longer attach a power of arrest to an FMPO. 
Figure 13: Applications and disposals of Forced Marriage Protection 
Orders, November 2008 to October to December 2015 
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Q4 Q1 Q2Q3 Q4 Q1Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Total applications made
Total disposals

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
21
Section 8 – Female Genital Mutilation Protection 
Orders 
Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders (FGMPOs) are intended to 
safeguard girls who are at risk of FGM at home or abroad, or who are 
survivors. They came into effect on 17 July 2015, and figures for these 
orders are presented in this bulletin for the second time (Table 14). 
In October to December 2015, there were 19 applications and 14 orders 
made for FGMPOs. In total there have been 47 applications and 32 orders 
made since their introduction. 
 
  
 
 
 
 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
22
Section 9 - Adoptions 
An adoption order made by a court extinguishes the rights, duties and 
obligations of the natural parents or guardian and vests them in the 
adopters. On adoption, the child becomes for virtually all purposes in law 
the child of its adoptive parents and has the same rights of inheritance of 
property as any children born to the adoptive parents. Most adoptions in the 
UK are ‘standard’ adoptions. Data is also provided on other adoptions, 
which include foreign adoptions, convention adoptions and standard 
adoptions that include a foreign element. An adoption order is preceded by 
a placement order which allows a local authority to place a child with 
prospective adopters, unless parental consent has been given for the 
placement.  
In October to December 2015, there were 1,378 applications made for a 
placement order and 1,450 applications made for an adoption order (Table 
15). 
During October to December 2015, there were 1,473 adoption orders 
issued, down 11% for the equivalent quarter in the previous year. In 69% of 
these, the adopters were a male/female couple, while in 15% the adopter 
was a sole applicant. In a further 8% of orders, the adopter was a step-
parent and in 8% the adopters were a same-sex couple (Figure 14). Figures 
on the sex and age band of adopted children can be found in Table 16 and 
timeliness figures can be found in Table 6. A wider range of breakdowns for 
adoption applications and orders, for example by type of order, can be 
produced from the accompanying CSV file. 
Figure 14: Adoption orders issued, by adopter, January to March 2011 
to October to December 2015 
 
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
Q1 
2011
Q2 
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Q3 
2011
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2011
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Q1 
2015
Q2 
2015
Q3 
2015
Q4 
2015
Number of adoption orders issued
Male/ female couple
Sole applicant
Step parent
Same sex couple
All adopters

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
23
Section 10 – The Mental Capacity Act 
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides a statutory framework to empower 
and protect vulnerable people who are not able to make their own decisions. 
The Act makes it clear who can take decisions, in which situations, and how 
they should go about this. It enables people to plan ahead for a time when 
they may lose capacity.  
When the Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into force on 1 October 2007, the 
role and function of the Court of Protection (CoP) changed, and in addition, 
the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) was established. The OPG, an 
executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, supports the Public Guardian in 
registering Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA), Lasting2 Powers of Attorney 
(LPA) and supervising Court of Protection appointed Deputies.  
For more information on the roles of these specialised courts please see A 
Guide to Family Court Statistics that is published alongside this 
publication.  
Court of Protection 
In October to December 2015, there were 6,821 applications made under 
the Mental Capacity Act 2005, up 7% on the equivalent quarter in 2014. The 
majority of these (54%) related to applications for appointment of a property 
and affairs deputy (Table 17). 
Following the introduction of new forms in July 2015, applicants must make 
separate applications for ‘property and affairs’ and ‘personal welfare’.  This 
is why there were fewer hybrid applications compared to previous years. 
There were 7,508 orders made, an increase of 11% on October to 
December 2014: most (55%) of the orders related to the appointment of a 
deputy for property and affairs (Table 18). The trend in orders made mirrors 
that of applications and has been steadily increasing since 2010 albeit at a 
faster rate, as Figure 15 below illustrates. 
                                            
2 An LPA is a legal document that someone (the Donor) makes using a special form. It 
allows that person to choose someone in the present time, called the “Attorney”, that they 
trust to make decisions on their behalf, at a time in the future when they either lack the 
mental capacity or no longer wish to make those decisions themselves 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
24
Figure 15: Applications and orders made under the Mental Capacity 
Act, January to March 2008 to October to December 2015 
 
Applications relating to deprivation of liberty increased from 109 in 2013 to 
525 in 2014 to 1,499 in 2015. There were 489 applications made in the 
latest quarter October to December. The overall increase follows the 
Supreme Court decision on 19 March 20143 whereby it was considered a 
person could be deprived of their liberty in their own home, sheltered 
accommodation etc, and not just the nursing homes and hospitals which 
were previously covered. Of the 489 applications made in October to 
December 2015, 317 (65%) came from a Local Authority, 147 (30%) from 
solicitors and 25 (5%) from others including clinical commission groups, 
other professionals or applicants in person. Over a third (39%) of the 
applications were made under the streamlined process set out in Re X and 
others [2014] EWCOP25.  
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) collects data from 
councils with social services responsibilities on deprivation of liberty at a 
case level on an annual4 and quarterly5 basis.  Section 16 of the Mental 
Capacity Act (MCA) and Re X cases are new and considered by the court 
but not by Local Authorities first. Those cases which come under section 
21A of the MCA 2005 are seen as appeals to the court of those who have 
already been assessed for deprivation of liberty and are likely to have been 
included in HSCIC figures. 
                                            
3 P v Cheshire West and Chester Council and P and Q v Surrey County Council  [2014] 
UKSC 19 
4 www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB14825 Mandatory collection 
5 www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB17509 Voluntary collection of number of DoLs 
applications, the number granted and the number not granted 
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
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Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
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Oct-Dec
Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
Jan-Mar
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Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Applications
Orders

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
25
Office of the Public Guardian 
There were 134,363 Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) in October to 
December 2015, the highest quarterly figure so far and up 40% on the same 
quarter for 2014 as shown in Figure 16 and Table 19. The recent increases 
are largely due to increased publicity and new online forms which have 
been introduced to make it simpler and faster to apply for LPAs. There were 
3,261 EPAs in October to December 2015, down 13% on Q3 2014. There 
were 4,353 Deputyships6 appointed in October to December 2015, an 
increase of 8% on the equivalent quarter in 2014. 
Figure 16: Powers of attorney received, January to March 2008 to 
October to December 2015 
 
Of LPAs registered in October to December 2015, 40% were for males – 
see Table 20. The most common age group applying for an LPA is 81-90 
years, as shown in Figure 17 below. 
                                            
6 Deputyships - A Deputy is legally responsible for acting and making decisions on behalf of 
a person who lacks capacity to make decisions for themselves. The Deputy order sets out 
specific powers in relation to the person who lacks capacity. 
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
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Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
Jan-Mar
Apr-Jun
Jul-Sep
Oct-Dec
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Number of EPAs Received 
Number of LPAs Received

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
26
Figure 17: Age of LPA donors registered as at end of December 2015 
 
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
18-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
100-110
Number of LPAs
Age group of LPA applicants

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
27
Section 11 – The Probate Service 
When a person dies somebody has to deal with their estate (money 
property and possessions left) by collecting in all the money, paying any 
debts and distributing what is left to those people entitled to it. Probate is the 
court’s authority; given to a person or persons to administer a deceased 
person’s estate and the document issued by the Probate Service is called a 
Grant of Representation7. This document is usually required by the asset 
holders as proof to show the correct person or persons have the Probate 
Service’s authority to administer a deceased person’s estate.  
In October to December 2015, 64,293 grants of representation were issued 
(Table 21). Grants of representation are known as either: 
 Probate (when the deceased person left a valid will and an executor is 
acting). These made up 78% of grants in October to December 2015.  
 Letters of administration with will (when a person has left a valid will but 
no executor is acting). These made up 7% of grants in October to 
December 2015. 
 Letters of administration (usually when there is no valid will). These 
made up 15% of grants in October to December 2015. 
These different types of grants of representation appoint people known as 
personal representatives to administer the deceased person’s estate.  
Figure 18: Grants of representation issued by the Probate Service, 
2007 to 2015 
 
                                            
7 www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/gor  
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Number of grants issued
Probate
Letter of Administration with will annexed
Letter of Administration

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
28
In October to December 2015, 62% of applications were made by solicitors 
and 38% were personal applications.  
Current structure of the Probate Service 
The Probate Service is currently made up of: 
 The Principal Registry in London 
 11 District Probate Registries 
 18 Probate Sub-Registries situated throughout England and Wales 
In October to December 2015, 7% of grants were issued by the Principal 
Registry and 93% by District Registries and Sub-Registries.  
When a probate case is contested, the Chancery Division of the High Court 
deals with the matter. See the Guide to Court and Administrative Justice 
Statistics for more information on The Chancery Division.  There were 28 
contested cases in October to December 2015, and 164 for the whole of 
2015. 
 

Family Court Statistics Quarterly October to December 2015 
 
29
Contacts 
Press enquiries on the contents of this bulletin should be directed to the 
MoJ or HMCTS press offices: 
Sebastian Walters 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx  
Mark Kram 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx  
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice 
Statistics Analytical Services division of the MoJ: 
Bridgette Miles 
 
Ministry of Justice 
102 Petty France 
London 
SW1H 9AJ 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
General enquiries about the statistics work of the MoJ can be emailed to 
xxx@xxx.xx 
General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available 
from statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Produced by the Ministry of Justice 
Alternative formats are available on request from 
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