HMCTS Weekly Operational Update - Week commencing Monday 21 June 2021

HMCTS weekly operational update

HMCTS weekly operational update for week commencing Monday 21 June 2021

Next week’s update will be issued on Friday 25 June 2021.

  • Updated: For all courts and tribunals in England and Wales, the Prime Minister’s announcement (14 June 2021) means that there will be no change in how our buildings are currently operating, and the safety of our users remains a priority. We are keeping all current safety measures in place. We will continuously monitor and review our guidance and practices to ensure that we are complying with the latest public health advice.
  • Reminder: Our courts and tribunals continue to operate as an essential public service, including in areas where the new COVID19 variant is spreading. Everyone required to attend a hearing in person, including jurors and professional users, can travel to our buildings. All our buildings are COVID-secure. Read more about coming to court and our guidance for all users during the pandemic.
  • Reminder: We actively encourage our staff and all court users to support their local authorities by taking part in surge testing in areas affected by variants of concern. We also strongly encourage everyone to continue with twice-weekly asymptomatic rapid testing regardless of their vaccination status. Anyone who tests positive should self-isolate and follow the latest NHS advice.
  • Reminder: Home testing kits are available from all English and Welsh courts and tribunal sites and will be offered to all professional court users, legal professionals, judiciary, contractors, jurors, witness services and staff who attend scheduled hearings.

Crime

  • Updated: The national rollout of the Common Platform continues with 7 additional Magistrates’ and 2 Crown Courts in Wales going live on 15 June 2021. It’s now live in 57 courts (16 Crown and 41 magistrates’ courts). During the week commencing 21 June 2021, Common Platform is scheduled to go live in 22 more courts in the North West, South East and South West.

Civil

  • On Monday 14 June 2021, Medway County and Family Court began sitting at the Holiday Inn Rochester. The court will be housed here for a period of 18 months. A consultation response on the longer-term arrangements for the Medway County and Family Court will be published soon.
  • A new service is being rolled out to the online civil money claims (OCMC) system, which allows judges to draw direction orders digitally. Judge draws directions order (JDDO) allows judges to draw directions via OCMC for cases that are valued between £300.01 and £10,000. The system is initially being rolled out across the North East from 15 June 2021, before being launched across other regions.
  • A pilot digital service for Damages Claims enables legal professionals to submit a personal injury claim or other type of unspecified claim digitally. They can manage and progress the claim themselves for the initial stages of the claim process. Initially a 3-month pilot with a few firms, we hope to extend the number of solicitors’ firms taking part from early autumn.

Family

  • Updated: Improvements to the probate service on MyHMCTS are planned in mid-July 2021. To prepare for this please submit or delete unsubmitted cases on your dashboard. Unsubmitted cases will not be available after the improvements go live. More information on the improvements and updated guidance will be published in due course.

Royal Courts of Justice