New research published today reveals significant variations in families’ access to Family Group Conferences (FGCs) across England, with low referral and take-up rates relative to the numbers of children in contact with social services or at risk of abuse or harm.
The new research, conducted by Coram in partnership with Family Rights Group and Cardiff University, and funded by Foundations, the national What Works Centre for Children & Families, comes as local authorities prepare for a new legal duty to offer Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) to all families before initiating care proceedings. Family Group Conferences are a well-evidenced form of FGDM that involve families coming together with their wider network to make a safe plan for a child at risk of entering care.
For this study, 92 local authorities (60% of all local authorities in England) provided information on the number of FGC referrals, consents to referrals, and the number of FGCs that took place in 2023/24. The research found that only one in ten of all child referrals for an FGC happened at the stage before care proceedings, despite robust evidence on their effectiveness in diverting children from care at this stage and in reducing the length of time spent in care. Overall, only 53% of all referred children went on to have an FGC in 2023/24.
When the research took place, although 80% of local authorities in England had an FGC service, with a further 5% developing one, referral levels were low as a proportion of the number of children in contact with children’s social care services. Across the local authorities that took part, 33,128 children were referred for an FGC in 2023/24, compared to the number of Children in Need (399,500) and children subject to a Child Protection Plan (49,900) in the same local authorities that year.
The study also uncovered differences in referral rates between local authorities, eligibility criteria, and timing of FGC offers, and suggested unequal experiences among families. Findings include:
- Lower referral rates for older children, who are significantly less likely to be offered or proceed to an FGC, but are the fastest growing age group entering care;
- Evidence of some disparities in referrals, consent and take up for children from different minoritised ethnic groups;
- Data gaps obscuring the picture for children and parents with disabilities: for almost a quarter of children with an FGCreferral, it was not known whether a child had a disability
The main barriers to families being referred for an FGC by a local authority included service capacity and local eligibility criteria; limited referrer understanding, knowledge, and awareness of FGCs; and high workloads and turnover of social workers and other professionals who may refer families.
Families reported that barriers to participation included stigma, fear of family conflict, delays in the process, and past negative experiences with social care. Enablers included good relationships with referrers, clear information about FGCs, and the independence of FGC coordinators.
To help support local authorities to prepare for the new duty, the report makes practical recommendations for local leaders and national policy makers, including:
- Establish a local authority-wide culture of promoting the value of Family Group Conferences, with senior leadership buy-in;
- Strengthen workforce understanding and confidence through enhanced training and information, including policies on when and how FGCs are offered to families;
- Improve equity monitoring, with stronger, standardised national data on referrals, consent, and take‑up;
- Embed culturally responsive and accessible practice, particularly for minoritised ethnic groups, disabled children and parents, and families experiencing multiple disadvantages;
- Build strong relationships between families, referrers and FGC coordinators and improve ways to ensure consent is informed and ongoing;
- Increase children’s participation, including co‑designed approaches to capturing children’s voices.
Max Stanford, Managing Director of Research at Coram and author of the report, said: “This is an incredibly timely and important piece of research that points to the need to ensure better access to FGCs for families through improved referrer knowledge and processes, as well as capacity within FGC services to support families throughout the FGC process. It also highlights the need for the collection of national data on FGC access and take up and more research into the barriers and enablers for older children, those with a disability and those from ethnic minority groups.”
You can read the full report here: https://foundations.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/fgc-family-experience-full-report_final-EMBARGOED.pdf