HMCTS Weekly Operational Update - Week commencing Monday 12 July 2021

HMCTS weekly operational update

HMCTS weekly operational update for week commencing Monday 12 July 2021

Next week’s update will be issued on Friday 16 July 2021.

  • Updated: We plan to run an online discussion for legal professionals on Tuesday 27 July 2021 at 5pm to 6pm using Microsoft Teams. The session will discuss how we’re responding to Step 4 lifting of restrictions on the government’s roadmap for England. Details are being finalised, but the event is likely to take the form of a panel-led discussion chaired by Paul Harris, HMCTS Operations Director, with questions and feedback channelled through legal professional representative bodies who will also sit on the panel. We’ll update you with more information about the event soon.
  • Updated: On Monday 5 July 2021, we opened a new Courts and Tribunals Service Centre in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester. Staff at the Service Centre are the first port of call for anyone who wants more information on their case – from legal professionals to public court users. They support people with queries using new, user-friendly digital services. Since 2019, we’ve opened Service Centres in Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham and Loughborough, handling more than 1 million queries and giving people better access to information and assistance.
  • Updated: Newcastle Civil, Family and Tribunals Centre officially opens on 14 July 2021. A formal remote ceremony will take place to mark the event. Based in Newcastle Civic Centre, the 25-room building provides a modern space for civil, family and tribunal hearings in the city. It replaces a number of buildings, some not fit for purpose, that previously heard this work providing an accessible, single space for judges, staff and court users.
  • Updated: Our 2021 communications and engagement survey will close on Friday 16 July 2021. We’re encouraging professional court and tribunal users to complete the short survey to improve how we communicate and engage with them.
  • 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 criminal case management system continues. During the week commencing Monday 5 July 2021, we have began using Common Platform in these courts in London and the South East: Reading Crown Court, Reading Magistrates’ Court, East Berkshire (Slough) Magistrates’ Court, Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court, Isleworth Crown Court, Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, Ealing Magistrates’ Court, Harrow Crown Court and Willesden Magistrates’ Court. Defence solicitors and barristers who work in these courts need to register for user accounts to avoid any problems or delays participating in Common Platform cases.
  • Updated: Common Platform is now in use in 88 courts (25 Crown Courts and 54 magistrates’ courts) – 39% of the total number of criminal courts in England and Wales. During the week commencing Monday 12 July 2021, Common Platform is scheduled to go live in 7 more courts in the North East and North West.
  • Updated: Defence professionals can upload case documents directly to Common Platform. If you are working on a Common Platform case, please use this feature instead of emailing documents to HMCTS or our service centre. Watch our video guide to find out more.

Family

  • 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.

Tribunals

Royal Courts of Justice