Received from: NAPO
Cafcass provides a social work service to the family courts who are dealing with the country’s most vulnerable children.
A recent survey of members undertaken by Napo found that 93 per cent of staff had worked extra hours over a four-week period that they had not been able to take back.
77 per cent of staff said that they did not keep a record of the extra hours that they worked mainly because they had no realistic possibility of getting the time reimbursed.
The extent of staff working unpaid overtime echoes the findings of a similar survey by Napo in 2021.
Napo have repeatedly asked Cafcass to take steps to reduce the number of cases held by staff to a manageable level and eradicate the staggering levels of bureaucracy faced by Cafcass staff.
This Congress agrees that it is scandalous that Cafcass has consistently failed to address this issue and to have allowed staff to prop up the service through many hours of unpaid work.
This TUC instructs the General Council to establish dialogue with the new minister for family justice to initiate a review into excessive work levels in Cafcass and find a solution to this perennial problem which is exploitative practice by the employer.
Napo