The Law Society has praised the ‘sensible decision’ made by HM Courts & Tribunals Service to extend the reform programme and cut previously planned parts.
HMCTS chief executive Nick Goodwin said today ‘significant progress towards the vision of reform set out in 2016’ had been made - but HMCTS’ plans would need to be adjusted after looking at organisational capacity, operational pressures, and hearing feedback from staff and partners. Wider pressures include the backlog and the rising cost of living, he posted in his blog.
Goodwin said: ‘We now need to adjust our plans, particularly for some aspects of the reform programme, which was originally scoped at a time when caseloads were lower. The choices we’re making now will maximise efficiency and functionality of our technology.’
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: ‘HMCTS is making sensible decisions about prioritising work given the dual challenges of delivering the court reform programme and tackling the huge court backlogs. Clearly, proper investment in our justice system rather than decades of cuts would have meant the court service didn’t find itself in this difficult situation.’
The reform programme will be extended to March 2025 and HMCTS will no longer deliver some parts of it to ‘allow [it] to get the current systems and processes to perform to their maximum capacity and ability before adding more’.
Plans for delivering additional functionality in the controversial Common Platform IT system have also been revised with a focus on ‘fixing and enhancing the existing system [and] improving stability and the experience of those who use it’.
Goodwin said: ‘We’ll not proceed with all aspects of the two releases…but will continue with some standalone elements which have already been built, specifically the introduction of digital cracked and ineffective trial forms and the functionality to allow judges to validate sentences.’
Plans for digitising warrants of control to enforce County Court judgments, issued using the new Online Civil Money Claims service, will still be included while all other civil enforcement changes will be removed from HMCTS’ plans.
Goodwin said: ‘These changes will allow us to get the technology right, to integrate systems, and give ourselves and our partners the time needed to adjust to new ways of working.’
Speaking of the changes, Goodwin said: ‘I’m confident that in making these changes to our operations, we’ve created a solid foundation for the future of the justice system. We’ll continue to work together to change and improve. We’ll not stand still as we strive to complete reform, perform at our best and prepare our services for the next generation.’
Emmerson said: ‘We have warned previously of the importance of not rushing development. Extending plans in the civil, family and tribunals to March 2025 means the process may take longer to develop but will avoid costly errors and rework in the long run.’
He added: ‘The government has previously indicated that it intended to defer the implementation of the abolition of no-fault eviction until after the digitisation of the existing court process. We would welcome clarification that the government has now recognised that this approach should be reconsidered.’
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