Reform Event: Family Jurisdiction29 October 2018

Modernising the Courts and Tribunals ServiceSusan Acland-Hood, Chief Executive

We rightly enjoy an outstanding international reputation for the quality of our justice system.

But to maintain that reputation, we are investing in the modernisation of our courts and tribunals.

Why Reform?

• Forbidding and hard to navigate – with high barriers to entry, few simple routes even for simple things, and many processes that feel designed round experts rather than users – which damages access

• Inefficient – with labour intensive, paper-based processes, resource and time allocation that don’t match the work being done, and too much dependence on physical hearings even for things like case progression

• Overstretched and showing signs of strain – with buildings not fit for purpose, and an impression of disregard for the time and trouble of others

The system we are reforming

The system we are reforming

Our guiding principles

Building in partnership

Increasing accessibility

Being proportionate and segmented

Strengthening our strong, independent and trusted justice heritage

Increasing transparency and accountability

Securing financial sustainability

Designing for 2050 – not 2018

Putting people at the heart

Online Civil Money Claims – claimants:

“It was really good and easy to do, if I had known how easy it would be I would have made the claim ages ago. I do believe the whole court process it antiquated and needs to be updated and all services should be like this.”

“Rather than waiting 4 weeks to get an acknowledgment that its been issued, I got it in seconds”

Defendants:

“Simple and direct. Excellent”

“Very straight forward easy to follow”

Civil

• Over 27,000 claims issued and more than £2.75m of

payments made since 26 March 2018

• User satisfaction stands at 90%

• Paper claims take (on average) 15 days from receipt to

issue – digital applications are issued instantaneously.

Online Probate:

“Really easy – one of the most user-friendly websites around”

“I found the online option extremely useful and for someone like me in their later 60’s very easy to follow.”

Online Divorce:

“The service was a lot easier because I use a wheelchair and didn't have to go out; I also found it very easy as an autistic person to get support from the team”

“It was marvellous, pain free and less stressful than the paper form which I tried several years ago to complete but got fed up of it being rejected.”

Family

• More than 3,000 online probate applications since July with a 95% satisfaction rate

• Over 16,000 online divorce applications since 1st May –63% of all citizen applications are now digital with an 85% user satisfaction rate.

• Financial remedy consent orders pilot – processed an application end-to-end in under 3 hours.

Public Family Law

“The system is really easy to use and I can see the benefits this new way of working will bring especially when all the additional features have been added.” (Swansea Family Court)

“The Shared Storage Solution was really quick and easy to use, definitely a step forward. Looking forward to the additional steps being included to be able to share with other parties and upload it on to the portal!” (Swansea Local Authority)

Family (contd.)

• Shared Storage Solution is now receiving submitted documents which are being retrieved by the Family Court and progressed.

• Latest improvement (based on user feedback) is to enable additional versions of the same document type for cases where there is more than one child.

Social Security and Child Support:

“Courts, judges, decision all quite frightening. This

calms you down.”

“It’s easier to track it this way rather than waiting on

hold for half an hour waiting to get through to

somebody.”

“It’s easy to keep track of what’s happening. It’s really

good. It’s got everything I need. I wouldn’t even have

to ask anyone because it’s all there”

Tribunals

• Over 1,300 appellants have used the Submit Your Appeal service.

• More than 1,700 appellants have signed up to Track Your Appeal (this has been available to the public more widely).

• 78% of users have signed up for both services

• User satisfaction at this early stage for the newest of our digital services stands at 76%.

Make A Plea:

“Perfect – if only all government and other services worked this!”

“I find the ability to make a plea online particularly useful for me as I’m homebound. It was easy to navigate – thank you.”

Automated Track Case Management

“Absolutely brilliant. It is so clear and easy to read and I love the screens. Built-in validation will be a huge time saver.” (Legal Adviser)

“I have worked with system developers before and it has never been as good as this – clear, intuitive, easy to read and quick to move around the screens.” (Magistrate)

Crime

Scheduling and Listing

Cross cutting

Video Hearings

Courts & Tribunals Service Centres

A single point of entry to digital services for legal professionals, meaning that from a single log-in:

• Legal firms will be able to register as an organisationand create and manage user accounts for their staff.

• Users will be able to create new cases, pay court fees, and share cases with other members of their organisation.

• Users will be able to search for cases that have been assigned to them, monitor progress and take necessary action.

• Currently being tested with a limited group of users; due to be publicly available in ‘Public Beta’ from mid-2019.

Cross cutting (cont.)

Evaluation, Insight and Data

Cross cutting (cont.)

• With the MoJ, we are developing programme-wide evaluation of courts and tribunals reform

• New ‘data fellowships’ – partnerships with research and other funders, as well as MoJ – will bring more capacity and understanding into HMCTS

Communication and Engagement:

• Reform Update (Autumn 2018) published in September

• Second series of Legal Professional Roadshows, making use of new technology and channels:

• Online webinar (end Sept) covered Video Remand Hearings and had over 100 participants

• Civil Reform webinar (early Oct) had over 200 participants

• Public User Event taking place on 6th Nov

• International Conference 3rd & 4th December

• More than 14,000 people subscribed to email alerts

• More than 3,500 interviews with CFT users undertaken

Website and blogs posting key information:

• Newsletter and e-mail updates

• Professional Engagement Groups

• Year-round roadshows and quarterly webinars

Ways to stay in touch and tell us what you think

Email at: changesomethingthatmatters@Justice.gov.uk

Tweet me at: @CEOofHMCTS

Visit our website: gov.uk/government/news/hmcts-reform-programme

Follow and comment on our blog: insidehmcts.blog.gov.uk/

HMCTS reform event

Overview of reform so farAdam LennonDeputy Director for Family

Online divorce for personal applicants launches.• Over 17,000 digital divorce applications submitted.

• Rejection rate remains well below 1% compared with 40% on paper.

• 63.3% of personal applicants are coming through the digital channel.

• Reduced completion time for personal applicants from 1 hour to 25 minutes.

• 85% of users said they are very satisfied or satisfied.

Online probate for personal applicants launches.• Nearly 4,000 digital probate applications submitted.

• Rejection rate almost halved compared with paper.

• Almost 24% of personal applicants are coming through the digital channel.

• 93% of users said they are very satisfied or satisfied.

Legal professionals' versions of both of these in pilots.• 7 probate and 15 divorce firms involved.

• 16 divorce applications received to date, none were rejected.

• Feedback from legal professionals has been positive.

HMCTS reform and family – last 6 months

Legal professionals' financial remedy by consent pilot started.

• 12 legal firms involved.

• 28 applications received so far.

• Approved consent orders = average 7-day turnaround.

• One consent order completed in 3 hours from solicitor sending it in to them receiving final order.

• "Rejected" appplications = average 10-day turnaround.

• Overall average turnaround = 1.8 weeks.

Public law 'Shared Storage Solution' launched.

• Swansea family court and Swansea local authority currently using it.

• 36 documents submitted to date and successfully retrieved by the Family Court and progressed.

• A further 3 family courts and 22 local authorities will soon be included in this pilot.

HMCTS reform and family – last 6 months

Divorce and financial remedy

Isobel Syred

Service Manager

To deliver a transformed end to end service for individuals and/or their legal representatives wishing to make an applications to legally end their marriage or civil partnership and resolve associated financial issues by

Our vision is…

Feedback from our users

What we will do over the next 12 months

Quarter 1 2019

Divorce acknowledgement

or service and decree nisi;

financial remedy consent

and contested service

MVP.

Quarter 2 2019

Divorce end-to-end digital

service for personal

applicants and financial

remedy digital service for

professional users MVP.

Quarters 3/4 2019

Divorce end-to-end digital

service for professional

users.

Divorce & Financial Remedy – Next StepsDivorce

Personal applicants Acknowledgement of service and decree nisi. January 2019

Outcome of decree nisi and decree absolute. Quarter 2 2019

Service journeys and nullity, judicial separation and civil partnership. Quarter 2 2019

Solicitors Acknowledgement of service, decree nisi and decree absolute. Quarter 2/3 2019

Financial Remedy

Solicitors Pilot on consent orders at South West Divorce Centre. Started

End-to-end journey for consent orders. Quarter 1 2019

Pilot for contested financial remedy process to commence. Quarter 1 2019

Continuation of pilot for contested financial remedy for further stages. Quarter 3 2019

Personal applicants Personal applicants' journey for financial remedy process. Quarter 3 2019

Public law and adoption

Emma Petty

Service Manager

Timescale: October 2017 – December 2019

Our ambition for the project is to make the overall

court process in relation to family public law and

adoption more efficient, ensuring the court,

parties and their representatives have access to

the right information at the right time to support

the court in its role to decide on the best outcomes

for the children involved in public law and

adoption cases.

Reforming family public law and adoption – our vision

We aim to transform the family public law and adoption court processes with new technology to provide:

• an online application

• clear signposting to the support available outside HMCTS

• the ability for users to see the progress of their case and to take action to progress their case online

• the ability for users to upload and access documents and evidence digitally both outside and inside the courtroom

• hearings, where appropriate, online

• fast digital access to outcomes of hearings

• those who need it with the support they need to access our digital services

• improved processes for dealing with urgent applications.

Reforming family public law and adoption – our aims

Family public law is testing a process that allows local authorities to upload

documents, including a bundle, into a shared space to view and download,

known as the ‘Shared Storage Solution’.

• The purpose is to eliminate current issues with securely

emailing large documents to the court.

• We recognise that some local authorities have already invested in

systems that help them produce and manage their bundles digitally.

We will work with our stakeholders so that, wherever possible and

viable, those systems already in use can integrate with our

new service.

Swansea local authority is very positive and we will be using the system in

other areas soon.

Family public law – Shared Storage Solution

A court administrator had this to say on using the new system:

“The system is really easy to use and I can see the benefits this new way of working will bring, especially when all the additional features have been added.”

A local authority user said:

“The Shared Storage Solution was really quick and easy to use, definitely a step forward. Looking forward to the additional steps being included to be able to share with other parties.”

Family public law – Shared Storage Solution

The family public law service will soon enter its ‘private beta’, which will involve testing the C110a online application form with local authorities. This will allow them to submit a digital application to the family courts.

Family public law –forthcoming pilot of C110A application

Any questions?

Thank you