Mark Lewis, HMCTS Service Manager for Employment Tribunals, has asked the President's Support Office to pass on the following message to members of the National User Group:

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced a new study to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to transcribe court hearings. The study will assess whether the Ministry of Justice (MoJ)’s in-house AI, Justice Transcribe, can meet required accuracy standards while significantly reducing transcription time and costs compared to current contracted providers for Crown Court proceedings. The initiative aims to reduce transcript fees, improve transparency and enable faster access to court records, improving victims’ overall experience. It forms part of ongoing work to modernise the court system and increase access to justice, including the government’s recent announcement that free transcripts of judges’ sentencing remarks will be provided on request from spring 2027 to victims whose cases are heard in the Crown Court.

Mark Lewis of HMCTS, the Service Manager for Employment Tribunals, has asked for the following message to be forwarded to members of the national user group in England & Wales:

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has implemented temporary changes to the ‘help with court fees’ application process as of 6 June 2025. Due to technical issues, both legal professionals and litigants in person must provide evidence of qualifying benefits alongside their EX160 applications for help with court and tribunal fees. HMCTS states this requirement will remain in place until the technical issue is resolved, with normal service to resume once fixed.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced, in its operational summary for 18 December 2023, that all Single Justice Procedure (SJP) traffic cases in the South East and North Wales will be managed using the Common Platforms. Additionally, HMCTS has published a seminar where it has offered help and advice on using the digitised Preparation for Effective Trial (PET) and Better Case Management (BCM) forms on Common Platform. The support is aimed at defence professionals using digitised PET and BCM forms.

The HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced the opening of four new business and property courtrooms and eight new employment tribunal rooms in Leeds to deal with disputes ranging from property disputes to employment rights. The opening of the courts and tribunals center, which took place on 21 October 2024, aims to make justice more accessible to the claimants and defendants of West Yorkshire. The site will provide space for the Business and Property Court and enable it to deliver swift justice. The new courtrooms will ease the Leeds Crown Court’s caseload, where these cases were previously heard, by diverting cases to the new facility. These additional courtrooms are a part of wider plans to reduce the backlog of long-term cases and make sure the court estate is suitable for its intended use.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced that the Possession Reform project will look into automating and streamlining the possession process from start to finish. This is expected to make the procedure quicker and more efficient for users. The project is due to start in early 2022.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has published a solicitor release note dated 11 January 2025 confirming an update to the draft order process for the contested financial remedy service. A new event, ‘upload draft orders’, is now available and must be used to upload any pre-hearing and post-hearing agreed orders. The process of solicitors uploading a draft order using ‘upload draft order’, along with the viewing of the lodged orders and subsequent approval of these orders by the judiciary, is available to solicitors and barristers. The managing a case (contested financial remedies) online guidance has been updated to align with the new process.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has confirmed that, from 23 September 2025, barristers can access the Family private law digital service platform for cases under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 and Part IV of the Family Law Act 1996.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Judicial Office, has announced the establishment of the International Oversight and Coordination Group (IOCG) to streamline international engagement. The IOCG will create a standardised process for handling international visit requests, establish clear prioritisation criteria based on strategic benefit, allocate resources effectively, support knowledge sharing, facilitate staff secondments abroad, and coordinate activities with MoJ International to align with wider government priorities and the rule of law. This announcement follows a series of international interactions with representatives from jurisdictions including Taiwan, New Zealand, Spain, Singapore, and Tanzania.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Judicial Office, has announced the establishment of the International Oversight and Coordination Group (IOCG) to streamline international engagement. The IOCG will create a standardised process for handling international visit requests, establish clear prioritisation criteria based on strategic benefit, allocate resources effectively, support knowledge sharing, facilitate staff secondments abroad, and coordinate activities with MoJ International to align with wider government priorities and the rule of law. This announcement follows a series of significant international interactions with representatives from jurisdictions including Taiwan, New Zealand, Spain, Singapore, and Tanzania.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has issued a release note as to the ability for solicitors and caseworkers to indicate that a party’s contact details (address, phone number or email address) are to be kept confidential when the case is being created in MyHMCTS. The note states that when a solicitor or caseworker is creating a new contested or consented financial remedy application, they will now see the question ‘Keep the applicant/respondent contact details private from the respondent/applicant?’ If ‘Yes’ is selected the relevant party’s address will be withheld from their respective party tab, which is visible to all parties and will appear in a ‘confidential applicant/respondent’ tab and will only be visible to the respective solicitor and the court. When the case has been created, the online Form A that is generated will not show the confidential address.