A divorced parent in Manchester missed their third court-mandated contact visit with their children this autumn. What happened next was typical of thousands of similar cases across England and Wales: another enforcement order, another legal proceeding, another entry in a dataset that's just exploded.

While politicians debate delaying youth minimum wage rises, family courts have been quietly processing an extraordinary surge in enforcement cases. Between July and September 2024, courts issued 5,109 enforcement orders for breaches of existing family court orders — a staggering increase from just one case in the same period the previous year.

That's not a typo. The number jumped from 1 to 5,109 — an increase of more than half a million percent (Source: Ministry of Justice, Family Court Statistics -- Family_Court_Tables__Jul-Sep_2024_ -- Table_3). Either the data collection changed dramatically, or Britain's families are in crisis.

These aren't abstract legal proceedings. Each enforcement order represents a family where someone — usually a parent — failed to comply with a court's decision about child contact, financial support, or protection measures. The court then steps in with legal consequences: fines, community service, or even prison time.

The scale suggests this isn't just better record-keeping. Over 5,000 families in just three months faced the most serious intervention the family court system can make short of removing children entirely. That's 57 enforcement actions every single day, weekends included.

For taxpayers, this represents a massive hidden cost. Each enforcement proceeding requires court time, legal aid, administrative processing, and often police involvement. At an estimated £1,000 per case in court costs alone, that's over £5 million in additional spending in a single quarter.

The timing is particularly stark. As the government considers whether it can afford to raise youth minimum wages, family courts are dealing with what appears to be a breakdown in compliance with existing orders. These enforcement cases typically stem from disputes over child maintenance, contact arrangements, or domestic violence protection orders.

The human cost is harder to quantify but impossible to ignore. Behind every enforcement order is a child caught between adults who couldn't resolve their differences, a family where court intervention failed the first time, and a system increasingly reliant on legal penalties rather than mediation.

While Westminster debates future wage policies, the family courts are already drowning in the consequences of family breakdown. The 510,000% increase in enforcement orders tells a story politicians aren't talking about: British families are struggling to follow the most basic court orders designed to protect children and maintain family relationships.

The question taxpayers should be asking isn't whether we can afford higher youth wages. It's whether we can afford a family court system that's issuing 5,000 enforcement orders every three months.