The crisis in our courts must not be out of sight, out of mind

The British justice system deepens trauma when people are at their very lowest. The government must act before more lives are destroyed

Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash

On Thursday, the Prime Minister set out the six key milestones of his Plan for Change, as the government promised to tackle the decline of our public services and economy.

Pledging to reduce NHS waiting lists, put more money back in the pockets of working people, build new homes and get more police on the street are welcome steps to millions of British voters. But there was a stark omission in the government’s priorities. While much of the state is in crisis, nowhere is this more acutely felt than the justice system.

For many, interacting with the justice system remains a distant abstraction—until a moment of personal crisis brings it crashing into their lives. Courts often become the place where the most clear failures of the state combine, and they must intervene to pick up the pieces of people’s lives. At that point, every delay, setback, and additional cost simply prolongs what is so often a source of profound trauma, especially when it keeps parents from their children.

In the criminal courts, delays mean justice is delayed for victims and defendants alike. But in the family courts, those delays devastate families when they need each other most.

Those caught up in this system told me how it had destroyed their relationships, sometimes beyond repair. They described missing key milestones in their children’s development while awaiting court permission to see them. Some shared stories of selling possessions or even their family homes to fund the drawn-out legal process. The bitter irony is inescapable: a system designed to protect children too often forces parents to forfeit their stability and security. How can we say this is a system that is fit for purpose?

The public family courts – where the state intervenes in family matters to protect children – paint an equally grim picture. As Scarlet Hannington reports, even as the number of children looked after by local authorities has fallen for the first time in 16 years, vulnerable women with intersecting needs—those struggling with poverty, mental health challenges, or domestic abuse—remain disproportionately likely to lose their children to state care, and the system is not strong enough to pick them back up again.

This crisis extends beyond the dilapidated courtroom or lawyer’s office. Failures in the welfare state to address underlying issues like poverty and lack of mental health support plunge people into crisis. The absence of trauma-informed, wraparound care that prioritises prevention means families are left to navigate a system designed for brutal intervention, not meaningful resolution. Years of austerity have gutted these structures and reporting restrictions around the family courts have allowed bad, biased practice to continue unchallenged. The courts have been left to handle crises that could and should have been averted.

Money is a large part of the answer. Legal aid has been slashed under successive Tory governments, and departmental budgets have faced relentless cuts since 2010. Punitive welfare reforms, the gutting of Sure Start, and the erosion of local authority services have only compounded the strain on families. As Family Solicitor Oliver Conway told The Lead: “Seventy-five percent of my work is cleaning up the failures of the welfare state. Poverty and want are, in my experience, the root cause of domestic abuse and cycles of trauma. If we had a social fabric, most people would not have disputes that were so serious they required judicial intervention.”

Systemic reform within the justice system is also urgently needed. Across the criminal and family courts, women continue to suffer from judicial bias, outdated rape myths, and discriminatory attitudes. Too often, coercive control and domestic abuse are misunderstood or dismissed, and survivors are re-traumatised by a system that fails to grasp the dynamics of trauma and violence. Judges require comprehensive training to recognize these realities, courts must adopt trauma-informed practices to better support victims, and dogged reporters and campaigners must continue their fight for enhanced transparency.

The courts hold a mirror up to our broader societal failings. If we want a future-proofed justice system, we must start with societal change—addressing the root causes of inequality and dysfunction before they escalate into crises. Until then, families will continue to bear the brunt of a system stretched beyond breaking point, waiting for justice that comes too late.

Here’s my report on the crisis in the private family court system that is ripping lives apart.

And here you can read Scarlet Hannington's report on the public family courts system, which sees a system rigged against young mothers as they face having their children taken away.

Meanwhile, in The Teesside Lead, Leigh looks at the very important question of burning rubbish…

Incinerators, Teesworks land deals and everything in-between

And finally, in The Blackpool Lead, we had a reporter stationed at the inquiry into whether Blackpool Council will be allowed to force the sale of homes it wants to demolish for its Multiversity development. Read our reporting below:

Multiversity public inquiry closes without hearing from any objectors

Blackpool Council accused of not making enough effort to reach out to residents who could lose homes to Multiversity project

We’re thin on the ground so no recommendations this week, but luckily we’ve given you plenty to get your teeth into.

I suggest you all get on with some Christmas shopping - putting it off only prolongs the agony.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Lead.