Increasing number of independent social workers "withdrawing from court work because of pay freeze"
Fees paid to expert witness have been left unchanged for six years, an organisation representing family court advisers, children’s guardians and independent social workers has complained.
Nagalro said the Legal Aid Agency reissued Guidance on the Remuneration of Expert Witnesses left the payment it can make to experts to prepare court reports capped at £33 an hour.
An 11.5% increase would be needed to restore real terms payments to their previous level and without this many experts would leave the market, it warned.
It said that last November the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, expressed concern about cases being delayed because of national shortages of experts willing to accept cases at the prescribed rates.
Nagalro said the unchanged fees showed Sir Andrew’s comments “have fallen on deaf ears” even though life-changing decisions were involved.
Independent social workers assisted courts in the most difficult and complex cases often with skills and knowledge “not available within Cafcass or the local authority".
They though would only receive £33 per hour normally for a maximum of 30 hours’ work on each case including reading evidence, and interviewing those involved.
Nagalro said: “Many independent social workers report that they regularly spend considerably more time than the 30 hours allowed, for the sake of the child, even though they know that they will not be paid for the extra time.
“No system should be based on exploiting the goodwill of those individuals who joined the profession to make a difference in a child’s life.”
It said an added unfairness was that experts in other fields were allowed higher payments, including £54.40 an hour for an employment consultant and £72 for a midwife or ‘computer expert’.
Nagalro chair Sukhchandan Kaur said: “An increasing number [of our members] are taking the sad and reluctant decision that they can no longer afford to take on legal aid cases.
“Others say that they are not able to undertake a reliable assessment due to the limit on the number of hours which would leave their assessment lacking ‘sufficient depth and scope’ to be of real value to the child or to the court and may compromise decisions about children’s future.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The Government will continue to ensure that every aspect of fee remuneration represents value for money. This includes the fees currently paid to experts.”
Mark Smulian
