HMCTS operational summary for week commencing Monday 7 March 2022

Next week’s update will be issued on Friday 11 March 2022.

• Updated: Recent government announcements affect COVID-19 guidance in England, Wales and Scotland. In England, the plan for Living with COVID-19 encourages safer behaviours through public health advice. We continue to follow government and public health guidance. Our latest COVID-19 guidance for all court and tribunal users is updated when new advice is available.
• Updated: 30 Nightingale courtrooms are to be extended until March 2023 in order to tackle the impact of COVID-19.
• Updated: The professional users access scheme is now available across all our sites in England and Wales, allowing fast track entry for members holding an ID card.
• Reminder: Since Saturday 26 February 2022 our service centres will be open longer on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to help with divorce and probate queries. You can contact us by phone, email or webchat from 8am to 8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 8am to 2pm on Saturdays.

Crime

• Reminder: If you have a Common Platform account, you need to login at least once every 90 days to keep it active. If your account is inactive for 90 days, it will be deregistered for security reasons. You will receive an automatic email notifying you before your account is deregistered: login to the system, and your account will remain live.

Family

• Updated: Applications for care and supervisions orders for childcare have moved online across all local authorities in England and Wales.
• Updated: The C100 bulk scanning service at Slough closes on Tuesday 15 March 2022. Please use the online service to make arrangements for children for both urgent and non-urgent applications. If applications are urgent and need to be heard on the same day please continue to call or email your local court.
• Reminder: New divorce laws will come into force from 6 April 2022.
• Reminder: Since Monday 28 February 2022 local authorities and legal firms under the jurisdictions of East London Family Court and Central Family Court should upload C110a applications for care and supervision orders and discharge of care and supervision orders online using the Family Public Law digital system. Supporting documents for applications required by the Family Court should also be uploaded to the system. Find more information on applying for a family law order.

Tribunals

• Updated: The E-Filing service for litigants in person and professional users of the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) planned for Monday 7 March 2022 has been postponed. A new go-live date will be announced shortly.

Judicial guidance and announcements

• For the latest practice directions, advice, and guidance please visit the Judicial Office website.