Digital case management arrives in our court rooms

Last month saw the launch of HM Courts and Tribunals Common Platform – a platform being tested for the first time in criminal courts.

This new digital case management system will become the information hub for our courts, providing access to relevant case information for all parties involved in criminal cases including the judiciary, solicitors and barristers, the Crown Prosecution Service and court staff.

All information about a case, such as charges, evidence and results, will be available and accessible to all parties. The different kinds of information will be securely controlled to ensure that each participant only sees the material that is appropriate to them.

Reducing the mountain of paperwork within our judicial system is an important step forward and the Common Platform will cut down the need for manual document handling and while also reducing the amount of paper documents produced.

It also removes the need to copy information from one digital platform to another at different stages in a case, improving the way criminal cases are accessed, managed and processed. It will eventually replace the existing software applications: Libra, XHIBIT, Bench, Court Store and Digital Mark-Up with a single, streamlined system.

I see this as being an important step forward as it will help the different parties work more effectively together, reduce delays and make evidence sharing easier.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/common-platform-system-tested-in-criminal-courts