We’ve not seen this publicised yet, which is a little surprising as the Ministry of Justice is very keen on the Pathfinder approach in private law. We mentioned in our recent post on the HC Justice Committee session that judges, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and others involved in family justice are enthusiastic about the success of the Pathfinder as a more child-focused and swifter procedure than the traditional model. As we wrote here in April, although proceedings were looking shorter, the research to date was limited.
However, in mid November new Ministry of Justice stats were released which show a dramatic reduction in the duration of cases and and in the numbers of open cases following the introduction of the Pathfinder model. Figures for the average case duration and numbers of ongoing cases in the first four Pathfinder areas are set out as below. North Wales and Dorset have been using the Pathfinder since February 2022. The much busier courts in South East Wales and Birmingham began to use it in April and May 2024 respectively.
These figures indicate that the Pathfinder is associated with significant reductions in the number of weeks between application and final order, and more than halving the open caseloads in all four court areas.
| Average duration for cases ended in the 12 months to February 2022 (weeks) | Average duration for cases ended in the 12 months to November 2024 | No. of open cases as at February 2022 | No. of open cases as at November 2024 | |
| North Wales | 29 | 18 | 478 | 202 |
| Dorset | 38 | 27 | 511 | 246 |
| Average duration for cases ended in the 3 months to August 2023 | Average duration for cases ended in the 3 months to August 2025 | No. of open cases as at August 2023 | No. of open cases as at August 2025 | |
| South East Wales | 37 | 12 | 1082 | 450 |
| Birmingham | 53 | 23 | 1846 | 648 |
We understand that introducing the Pathfinder involves first clearing backlogs, and intensive work in the early stages of applications. However, if these figures mean that courts and Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru fairly quickly find their caseloads halved, with families more quickly arriving at workable solutions, the outcomes of the Pathfinder look very positive.
Research on families’ experiences of the Pathfinder is expected to be published in the near future.
Image: thanks to Jurnej Furman, Wikimedia Commons
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