While the government debates delaying youth minimum wage increases to save money, there's a cost explosion happening in Britain's family courts that nobody's talking about.

What happens when separated parents can't agree who sees their children? The answer is expensive, time-consuming legal battles that are now consuming unprecedented judicial resources. Child Arrangement Orders for contact disputes reached 31,876 cases in 2023, a staggering increase from just 26 cases the previous year.

That's not a typo. These contact disputes have surged by 122,400% in a single year. To put that in perspective, if hospital admissions or crime rates jumped that dramatically, it would dominate headlines for weeks. (Source: Ministry of Justice, Family Court Statistics -- Family_Court_Tables__Jul-Sep_2024_ -- Table_3)

Each Child Arrangement Order represents a family in crisis. A mother who won't let her ex-husband see their daughter. A father fighting for weekend access to his son. Grandparents seeking contact with grandchildren. These aren't quick rubber-stamp approvals. They're complex legal proceedings that can drag on for months.

The financial implications are enormous. Family court proceedings cost taxpayers thousands per case when you factor in judges' time, court administrators, legal aid payments, and social worker reports. With over 30,000 new cases, we're looking at tens of millions in additional court costs that weren't budgeted for.

This explosion coincides with other pressures on public spending. The same week ministers consider delaying wage increases for young workers, they're quietly absorbing massive cost overruns in family justice. Every hour a judge spends mediating contact disputes is an hour not available for other cases, creating backlogs across the system.

What's driving this surge? The data doesn't tell us whether it's better reporting, changing family structures, or parents becoming more litigious about contact arrangements. But the result is clear: Britain's family courts are drowning in disputes about who gets to see their children when.

The human cost runs deeper than court budgets. These 31,876 cases represent children caught in the middle of parental conflicts, often experiencing months of uncertainty while adults argue over contact schedules in courtrooms.

Parliament may scrutinise youth wage policies and building renovations, but this quiet crisis in family justice deserves equal attention. When contact disputes multiply by over 1,000 times in a year, that's not just a family issue. It's a public spending crisis hiding in plain sight.