Nagalro Officers meet Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division

On the 7 July 2023 Nagalro Chair, Yvonne Wilson, Vice Chair, Fiona Wallace, and Treasurer, Kathy Butcher, met with Sir Andrew McFarlane, the President of the Family Division.  Julia Hughes, Nagalro’s Company Secretary, joined the meeting virtually from her holidays – thank you Julia!

It was a very productive and amicable meeting.  The President was very thoughtful and welcoming.  He showed great interest in the issues of Nagalro’s members, in our work in general, and in particular our conferences and training opportunities.

The President found it particularly useful to gain the insight Nagalro brings to the Family Justice System, and we were able to raise some pressing issues for our members.  These included:

• The Transparency Reporting Pilots and the naming of ISWs in media coverage in the pilots. The President heard our concerns and asked us to keep him updated on the views of members.  He said it was important for ISWs to indicate that they are not prepared to take on any cases that are likely to be reported when agreeing an instruction.
• The range of current pressures on ISWs including lowering relative pay rates, roles as experts, and lack of control over the work offered by Cafcass work.
• DOLS Courts, the move to de-centralisation of DOLS, and renaming and monitoring of the DOLS processes.
• The new best practice guidance for Supervision Orders and monitoring how this will work.

We were able to update the President on our growing cohort of Irish members, and agreed to provide a short summary of the types of work Irish members can undertake for the UK Family Courts and Local Authorities. He will circulate this summary to the Judiciary.

We will keep you updated regarding any developments from our discussions.  We would particularly like to thank Bee Ezete, Private Secretary to the President, for all her help in the organisation of this meeting.

We hope to meet on a more regular basis into the future.

Nagalro Officers