Research suggests Family Drug and Alcohol Courts make major savings

Family Drug and Alcohol Courts (FDACs) save the state money, with the London FDAC alone generating estimated gross savings of £1.29m to public sector bodies over five years, research has suggested.

The UK’s first FDAC was launched in 2008 in London under the leadership of District Judge Nicholas Crichton. It currently supports more than 40 families a year. In 2014/15 it cost £560,000 to run.

Its success has led to the Department for Education backing the rollout of the FDAC problem-solving model. There are now eight FDAC clusters in operation, serving 19 local authorities at 12 courts, with more sites in development.

A report by the Centre of Justice Innovation thinktank published this week said the cashable savings at the London FDAC accrued primarily from the court’s better outcomes.

The report noted that in 2014/15, the London FDAC initiated 46 cases at a cost per case of £12,170 on average. However, it said the upfront costs of the service were partially offset during proceedings “because FDAC saves money on legal costs and experts witnesses and assessments”. These immediate savings meant that the effective cost of the service was only £5,825 per case on average.

When it came to longer-term savings the report’s authors concluded that in the five years following the commencement of an FDAC case the court would generate three types of long-term savings compared to standard proceedings:

• FDAC kept more children with their families. This saved public money that would otherwise be spent on taking children into care. This amounted to an average of £17,220 per case;
• Families who appeared in FDAC were less likely to return to court. FDAC therefore saved money on future court costs. Savings in the cost of parents returning to court either after reunification or with future children were £2,110 per case on average.
• More parents in FDAC overcame their drug and alcohol addictions. This created savings for the NHS due to reduced long-term need to provide drug treatment; and to the criminal justice system due to reduced drug- related crime. These savings amounted to £5,300 per case on average.

The report acknowledged that there were also two areas where FDAC cost more than standard proceedings. “Firstly, more parents take up substance misuse treatment during the court proceedings which incurs a cost or £2,485 per case on average. Secondly, as more children remain with their families there is an additional cost of supporting those families which is on average £460 per case.”

The Centre for Justice Innovation said that, taking all of these factors together, over five years the net financial saving relating to the FDAC in 2014/15 caseload was some £729,000, which equated to £15,850 per case on average.

The report can be viewed here.