HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced changes to the Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC) service pursuant to CPR PD 51R which will enable legal representatives to issue claims where either the claimant or the defendant resides outside England and Wales. The relevant party must be represented by a legal representative whose address for service is in England and Wales.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced that its Pre-recorded Evidence (PRE) service is now operational across all Crown Courts in England and Wales as of 16 June 2025. The platform, which enables viewing of pre-recorded cross-examination evidence before criminal trials, requires defence and prosecution professionals to register for an account before accessing recordings. The service replaces previous third-party contracts for section 28 of the Youth and Criminal Justice Act pre-recorded evidence special measure and allows same-day booking of recordings.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced that from 31 March 2025, all combined request applications for a certificate of judgment and the issue of a writ of control (Form N293a) must be processed through the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC) in Northampton. This applies where a judgment creditor has a County Court judgment and is seeking to transfer the proceedings to the High Court for enforcement pursuant to CPR 83.10. The CNBC will operate as an office of the Northampton District Registry for these applications. Applications should be submitted to Writs.CNBC@justice.gov.uk or by post to the CNBC. This change forms part of HMCTS's centralisation strategy, with CNBC working towards formal designation as a District Registry of the High Court. Post-issue applications such as stays will be referred to appropriate High Court District Registries.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) reported the completion of its Digital Audio Recording Transcription (DARTS) modernisation project, which was finished in May 2025. This pivotal project involved migrating nearly 600 terabytes of Crown Court audio data from proceedings across England and Wales to a cloud-based system, representing the final milestone in HMCTS's transition from legacy data centres. The modernised DARTS platform now processes requests for audio recordings in minutes rather than hours and offers enhanced search functionality, real-time progress tracking and centralised access to historic documents. Additionally, HMCTS successfully migrated 98 million individual recordings without any data loss. The overhaul required a complete system rebuild due to the previous reliance on specific hardware and software integrations. The new system maintains connectivity with existing criminal case management systems and is designed to support future enhancements and innovation in court technology.

Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced the conclusion of its Reform Programme, with plans for continued modernisation of criminal courts. Changes include expanding the Common Platform case management system to handle more case types, upgrading 80 court rooms with new digital equipment and extending Service Centre coverage to five additional regions. HMCTS has recruited 150 new legal advisors and doubled their allowance to increase court capacity. The service now operates 39 remote witness sites supporting 2,000 vulnerable witnesses annually. A new Criminal Courts Improvement Group will coordinate efficiency improvements across magistrates' and Crown courts.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced a delay in the implementation of new Practice Directions for Employment Tribunals (ET) in England, Wales, and Scotland. In an email circulated to national user group members, HMCTS advised that the Practice Directions, originally scheduled to coincide with the Employment Tribunal Procedure Rules 2025 on 6 January 2025, are now expected later in January 2025. The directions will introduce changes to the presentation of claims, responses, and statutory appeals, including restrictions on email submissions of ET3 response forms.

The HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), service manager for the Employment Tribunals, Mark Lewis has announced a series of important updates designed to improve the experience of professional users interacting with the Employment Tribunals system.

Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced that from 28 July 2025, the Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC) pilot in CPR PD 51R will be mandatory for eligible claims where the parties are represented. This is provided for in the 187th Practice Direction update to the CPR. In addition, this update includes the introduction of a one-year pilot for automatic referral to mediation for non-personal injury road traffic accident (RTA) claims issued through the OCMC service. HMCTS will evaluate the pilot and conduct a public consultation to inform future policy decisions regarding mandatory mediation.

Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced that from the end of July 2025, all eligible County Court specified money claims under CPR PD 51R must be filed through the Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC) portal. This change applies to legal representatives using the service. Paper submissions will no longer be accepted after this date.

Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced a new functionality for the online money claim portals (damages claims under CPR PD 51ZB and online money claims under CPR PD 51R), enabling legal representatives to submit queries and supporting documents digitally through the online platform where both parties are represented. The system will allow HMCTS caseworkers to process and respond to queries through the online portals, with all correspondence visible to case parties as per CPR 39.8. While not extending to Application cases, queries about linked Applications can be submitted via the Main case. Sensitive queries will continue to require email submission to hearing locations.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced changes to the management of draft probate applications on MyHMCTS, effective from 11 March 2025. Under the new system, users will receive email notifications when inactive draft applications reach 90 days old. Users can prevent deletion by accessing their application through either an email hyperlink or the MyHMCTS dashboard to make amendments. Draft applications that remain inactive will be deleted after an additional 90-day period following the notification.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) have provided the following advance notice to employment tribunal users: