Spending cuts could threaten the future of the Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC), the judge behind the innovative institution has warned. He called for joined-up government to recognise the savings it makes.

District Judge Nicholas Crichton (pictured), who has spearheaded the new approach to care proceedings being piloted at a court in London, told the Gazette he is ‘deeply concerned’ that local and central government cuts could threaten the court’s funding. He has written to the prime minister urging the government to recognise the savings the court makes and to ensure its future.

The FDAC aims to tackle parental substance misuse when it is a key element in local authority decisions to bring care proceedings, and to break inter-generational cycles of harm. The project is funded by the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, the Department of Health and three local authorities: Camden, Islington and Westminster.

Crichton said the court deals with some of the most dysfunctional families in the country, which produce children that are taken into care and often become involved in the criminal justice system. He said one such family can cost the taxpayer upwards of £500,000 a year.

In contrast, he said: ‘This project is costing £500,000 a year, so if it only gets one family out of the system, we have made a saving.’

But he said the government’s cost-cutting agenda means that each department is focusing on making savings to its own budget, without anyone looking at the bigger picture.