Fact sheet: Video Hearings service
Updated 6 February 2024
Applies to England and Wales
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The Video Hearings Service is our bespoke video hearings solution and it’ll be rolling out nationally from Autumn 2024. It aims to replicate the formality and experience of a court or tribunal hearing. It provides judges with an alternative to attendance in person, where they feel it’s in the interests of justice to attend remotely. Participants benefit from the reduced disruption, cost and inconvenience of attending a court or tribunal building.
The service has the same look and feel as other GOV.UK services. This means if a video hearing is needed, the experience is familiar and easy to navigate. Hearing participants are given instructions on checking their equipment before the hearing and how to alert the court if a video hearing is not suitable for them.
Our Court Support Officers support participants, legal professionals and judges using the service. These specially trained staff provide support in the lead up to and during the hearing, making sure that they proceed smoothly.
1. Main outcomes
We’ve achieved several outcomes so far, including:
- the ability to access the service using a simple website link
- meeting the specific needs of a court or tribunal hearing, giving judges full control of the hearing
- meeting government standards for accessibility, security and Welsh language provision
- introducing the service to some civil and family courts and the Property, Tax, Employment and Immigration tribunal chambers
2. How the Video Hearings service is helping to modernise the courts and tribunals service
Video hearings played a big part in keeping justice moving throughout the pandemic. It’s now common for all or some participants to not attend their hearing in person. We use a number of services to run video hearings, but the Video Hearings Service is our purpose built, strategic service. Off the shelf video conferencing platforms serve us well, but they do not provide the same protection for the formality, majesty and security of proceedings.
The Video Hearings Service displays court rules prominently and users must agree not to record proceedings. Once the judge is ready, an on-screen countdown starts the hearing formally. Participants are automatically muted when they join. The service enforces important court rules that general video conferencing platforms do not, including:
- making sure the hearing automatically suspends if the judge’s connection fails
- dictating who can control, accept and decline a private consultation
- making sure that people with an interpreter are not in a consultation room alone
- preventing observers from attending private consultations
The Video Hearings Service provides the efficiency, flexibility and formality that’s needed for conducting hearings within a modern court and tribunal system. It provides an alternative way to attend a hearing for those who may find attending in person a significant obstacle and can reduce stress for some of our most vulnerable users. For others attending a hearing on the Video Hearings Service can remove the worry of being in the same room as other participants, who they may be in conflict with.
3. Further information
Read our guidance on how the Video Hearings service works and how to take part.
Find guidance on how to check corporate firewalls to make sure that hearings proceed smoothly.
Find out more about what to expect from a video or telephone hearing.
Read our blog post on the future of remote hearings or listen to our podcast about neurodiversity and remote hearings.