Woman's email address sent to abusive ex-partner

What happened

Ms L's ex-partner had abused her. During a court hearing, a judge ordered that he should attend a domestic violence prevention programme with a specific provider. Cafcass did not follow the court order and referred Ms L's ex–partner to a programme with another provider, one which was his preferred choice.

Ms L complained that Cafcass's family court adviser was late to the court hearing, treated her ex-partner favourably and referred him to the wrong programme. She also said that Cafcass gave her ex-partner her email address although contact with him was extremely stressful to her, given the history of their relationship.

She said that Cafcass's mistakes had led to her ex-partner being awarded contact with her daughter and she had spent thousands of pounds challenging that decision.

Cafcass admitted that it had made some mistakes but it did not recognise the impact of them.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. Cafcass made a number of significant mistakes in this case that made an already difficult time more emotionally demanding for Ms L.

We did not find that its mistakes led to her ex-partner getting contact with her daughter, although we understood why she had felt as if she was at a disadvantage.

Putting it right

Cafcass apologised to Ms L that the family court adviser was late to the hearing.

It paid her £500 in recognition of the unnecessary distress she had been caused by its failure to comply with the court's order about the domestic violence prevention programme. It paid a further £500 in recognition of the anxiety it had caused when it disclosed her email address. It also took steps to make sure that staff do not disclose personal details.