Transparency data

Strategic Engagement Group Meeting Chair’s Summary - August 2022

Published 21 September 2022

Applies to England and Wales

1. Introduction

This document summarises the discussion of the Strategic Engagement Group (StratEG) meeting held on 30 August 2022. The meeting was held online and face-to-face at 102 Petty France, London.

Members of the Bar Council, Law Society and Chartered Institute of Legal Executives met with the jurisdictional leads for the HMCTS reform programme and HMCTS corporate relations team for the latest bi-monthly update and discussion.

The meeting included 3 presentations - on the Common Platform project, Probate Service and Family Private Law Digital Service.

2. Reform programme

Each jurisdiction updated on their area and project delivery.

2.1 Family

The project confirmed that ‘no fault divorce’ legislation, launched on 6 April, is taking 20 weeks between an application and a conditional order being granted. There are a few routes for applications - couples can apply for a divorce jointly or make a sole application.

A webinar about the online Divorce Service was held on 13 April. You can watch a recording of the webinar or refer to further guidance for the new service online.

2.2 Civil

In the civil jurisdiction claimant mandation has not yet been implemented in the Damages Claims Service. We expect that mandation will be ready for implementation from mid-September.

Work is ongoing to develop the digital process. There will be 3 releases in October. They will provide the ability to request default judgments for judges to make directions orders, for general application and general orders for online damages and civil money claims.

The next stage will be the ability to upload evidence and pay hearing fees. Work is in progress, designing and testing with users before completing the technical build.

The possession project is working closely with the Department for Levelling Up on a White Paper which impacts the possession landscape.

The enforcement project plans are still in the design phase and progressing. This will enable a user to request and progress an application for a warrant of control, following entry of judgment on an online civil money claim.

2.3 Future hearings

The Publications and Information hub is up and running. It is currently limited to early adopter courts. ListAssist is live in civil and Family Courts. The project is looking to extend it to criminal courts.

The video hearings implementation has been paused to relieve pressure on operations.

2.4 Tribunals

The tribunals jurisdiction provided an update in advance.

In Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), development work for the new SSCS 5 appeal form (HMRC appeals) is progressing. The new form will be bulk scan only. Release dates for SSCS5 integration with Core Case Data (CCD) Case Access Management are being considered.

In the Immigration and Asylum Chamber (IAC), all appeals by legal representatives that can be submitted digitally on behalf of appellants are doing so. This applies to appellants inside and outside the UK. Appellant in Person Out of Country was released on 14 March 2022.

Development is continuing on the Immigration Bail MVP (minimum viable product).

In the Employment Tribunal (ET), litigant in person claimants will be able to complete the Employment Tribunal online application form (ET1). Legally represented respondents will be able to complete the Employment Tribunal online response form via MYHMCTS.

In the Special Tribunals, the service will implement services in phase 1 to

• Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal
• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Tribunal & Primary Health and Care Standards Tribunal
• Mental Health Tribunal

The remaining jurisdictions (phase 2) will be considered once implementation of the core service (phase 1) is complete.

The project will be tech-ready for Criminal Injuries Compensation to receive the service at the end of September/early October, then rollout to the other services between October and December.

2.5 Crime

The project is continuing to engage with staff, judiciary, defence practitioners, CPS, and other partners in relation to Case Progression, Enhanced Case Materials, Publication of lists and new legislation.

It is also continuing to engage with the Judicial Working Group in relation to the remaining designs.

All design elements have been completed for Automatic Online Conviction and Penalty (AOCP), Online Plea and Allocation (OPA) including sending cases to the Crown Court without a magistrates’ court hearing.

3. Crime – Common Platform

Common Platform went live during July across Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire, Greater Manchester, South Wales and Gwent, completing implementation in Wales. It is now live in 136 courts - 46 Crown Courts and 90 magistrates’ courts.

Implementation will be phased to March 2023. There will be a pause however in November 2022 as the Metropolitan Police Service integrates its new technology system.

Collaboration with the CPS and defence advocates in the courtroom will start when the Preparation for Effective Trials (PET) and Better Case Management (BCM) forms are live. Defence advocates will have to sign-in to Common Platform to access both PET and BCM forms. The Digital Case System (DCS) will be replaced with a new case material repository in the Crown Court later in the year.

4. Family – Probate Service

The Probate Service is increasingly being used by professional users. The highest number of users was recorded in August 2021.

The presentation illustrated the number of cases that were stopped from proceeding because they were incorrect, and the improvements made by the service team to address this. The project team uses live data to focus on, tackle and monitor changes made.

HMCTS has published a blog Working together to avoid delays to probate applications for probate practitioners which highlights how a ‘stopped’ application can be prevented.

The service team is working with HMRC, who administer inheritance tax, to improve probate applications.

The team is also working on delivering a webinar, which will be announced shortly.

5. Family – Private Law Digital Service

The project has developed the front-end solicitor application journey for child arrangements and domestic abuse.

The presentation illustrated a high-level project timeline from March 2021 to project closure in March 2023. Private beta was successfully delivered in April 2022.

There are now 30 solicitor firms onboarded and able to submit digitally. This is on a voluntary basis by solicitor firms.

The public beta service is scheduled to go live for legal professionals in Wales on 21 November 2022.

Release 2.2 will include additional elements of the journey including solicitor drafting an order and submitting to a judge for approval.

The digital service will be rolled out to all solicitor firms in England from January to March 2023. The project will then close and handed over to run as ‘business as usual’.

6. Other updates

An update on the reform programme evaluation will be an agenda item at the next meeting.

The National Audit Office (NAO) is conducting a progress review at HMCTS. This is a review of the status since the previous audit in 2019 and is looking at how HMCTS engages with stakeholders. NAO is due to publish its report in February 2023.

7. Next meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 25 October 2022.

Amy Allen

Acting Head of Corporate Relations, HMCTS and Chair of Strategic Engagement Group.