Doing Less with Less?
A hectic week draws to a close for DEF and me.? One filled with webinars, seminars, meetings and evolving opportunities.? As we wind down to the weekend I thought a quick round-up of the week’s events and revelations might help my followers/connections make sense of our Topsy-Turvy civil justice reform landscape.
The week began with the news from HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) that it will be doing less with, well, less.? The only good thing to emerge from their Briefing on 29 February was that it came out on time.? It is an unfortunate fact HMCTS has a (long) established track record of postponing deadlines, think 2020-2023-2024 2025/6).? Nor did this latest Briefing disappoint in that respect as it announced Modernisation would take another 12 months to finish with some work continuing through 2025 and into 2026. ?In other words - beyond the 10 year anniversary of the 2015 Autumn Statement announcement of the funding for a 4 (yes, 4) year programme to modernise our Courts.? Anyone up for partying in 2025 like its 2015?
I suppose a glimmer of good news can be found in the announcement that mandatory mediation post-issue in the Small Claims Track (SCT) will be happening although, as we know from the Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) minutes of December 2023, this will not be introduced as originally scheduled in March 2024.? Expect June or July for this important first serious attempt to reduce the SCT Backlog by settling ca 50%-55% of all cases where a Defence is filed.
On Monday 4 March the latest Management Information for the Courts dropped via HMCTS’ Monthly Bulletin.? Waiting time to first hearing in the SCT remains in excess of a year.? As has become too usual this remarkable statistic passed un-remarked, but not by me.
The Modernisation Programme has spent ￡1.4bn delivering a system that has led to waiting times growing longer not shorter.? That is largely because the system remains part paper and part digital.? Since last November there are, of course, 16 Courts trialling an end-to-end version of Damages Claim Portal (DCP) but most of the Backlog is not in those claims.? Approximately 80%+ of all cases in the Civil jurisdiction are to be found in the SCT where an end-to-end digital system remains elusive.
Consequently in 2016, when Modernisation began, waiting time to first hearing in the SCT was 33 weeks.? Now, as the end of Modernisation threatens to happen (not for the first time...), the wait is 53.4 weeks.? But, wait!, 53.4 weeks is actually only an average.? Actual waiting times around the country can be up to 100 weeks and that is only to first hearing.? Cases are often adjourned because either the paper file has been lost or the Judge has been lost (there is a recruitment crisis affecting the Judiciary which is particularly acute in the District Bench where SCT cases are heard) or both paper file and Judge are lost simultaneously.? Leading to many more months of delay. ?
Then LO!? On Wednesday (Budget Day in the UK) the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice UK , Antonia Romeo , persuades HMT to allocate ￡170m to MOJ for Public Productivity work.? Congratulations to Antonia and her team - quite a coup given HM Treasury lopped ￡28.8m off the MoJ’s Budget only last Autumn.? This may even enable Tier 1 to be properly funded!? All in the name of Public Productivity – I am all for it.
领英推荐
In contrast to the beginning of the past 7 days, there was plenty of good news from yesterday’s Justice Innovation Group (JIG) meeting.? Sarah Moffatt Stephens (a member of the OPRC) confirmed everything was on track for the OPRC to get down to work in Spring 2024, yes more or less NOW folks!? Long wait but the urgency has not eased as the latest Management Information (see above) reveals - the Backlog blights ever more lives and livelihoods.? There is no time to lose before introducing Tier 2.?
Sarah’s announcement was followed by exciting demos of LegalTech from Austin Milne ’s Shake (UK) and Simon Goodrich ’s Portable (Australia).?
That Was The Week That Was!
The good thing about Tier 2 is that the leading Online Dispute Management platforms (which will do the heavy lifting of the NCBDR caseload in pre-action) are already built.
In DEF’s case our platform launched in 2015 and has been in continual commercial use - tried and tested and not found wanting.?
DEF has successfully helped SMEs, Litigants in Person and law firms resolve their and their clients’ disputes quickly unlocking compensation and costs by removing the cost and delays associated with our crazy part-paper/part digital Backlogged civil justice system. ??We have bespoke functionality for 30 different claim types to support claims ranging from SME disputes to Clinical Negligence claims.
Working with our mediation service partner, ADR ODR International Limited , we offer a panel of mediators that has strength in depth and number handling the increasing volume of disputes seeking solution using DEF’s best-in-class Rapid Resolution platform. ?
And that was only the first 7 days of March!? Much more to come this month including the announcement of the winner of the tender to build the Online Legal Support and Guidance (OSAG) platform and the lucky winners of the ten places on the OPRC’s important sub-committees.
It’s an exciting civil justice world out there.?
Have Great Weekends, see y’all Monday!
Advisory Consultant, Law for Life
8 个月Thank you Tony as always for summing up a hectic week.Auto correct suggested "swimming up" which sounds like a hallucination to me
Looking forward to reading your take on the recent announcements! ??
Lawyer, Problem Solver and Academic
8 个月It's a disgraceful set of data. How can a small claim take a year to get to a first hearing. DIFC's Small Claims Tribunal clears up 92% of claims under ￡120,000 in 4 weeks. And how can HMCTS have spent ￡1,400,000,000 to make things worse. The fact that we are not baying for blood and demanding change is also a disgrace. However, we are so acclimated to incompetence in the running of our justice system that we read, frown and shrug our shoulders. I work with Ministries of Justice across the globe, some rich and some poor, but none come close to the incompetence and inefficiency of our bumbling twins of MoJ and HMCTS.