Administration of justice
HMCTS: using user experience principles
Sidonie Kingsmill describes how HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is applying user experience principles in the administration of justice.
About the author:
Sidonie Kingsmill is
customer director at HMCTS
When I first arrived at HMCTS four years ago, we were not sure what was important to our users. We knew they wanted to get a decision from a judge, or to ‘win’ their case. And we assumed that they would not want to wait forever to get that. But beyond that, we were not sure what we should be prioritising to improve their experience of our services, particularly as we started to bring more services online. So, to find out more, we conducted some experience research into our users (see our summary).¹ What we found was fascinating – and many colleagues told us that it made sense and fitted with their own experience.
Many people were unsure what to expect of their court or tribunal experience, and that uncertainty only added to their stress at a time which was difficult anyway. Those who had some idea, often found the reality to be different. A lot of people had quite unrealistic expectations from watching TV shows or YouTube videos. For the record: UK judges do not use a gavel, and many of our hearing rooms look a bit like a meeting room in an office.
Many people had a more realistic impression from friends or relatives who had had their own experiences. Overall, people expected it to be emotionally difficult and formal, but fair.
Did people generally have a good experience?
Well, yes. Just over half said that their experience was very or fairly good, and a further 16% said that it was neutral.
But that leaves over a quarter of people who had a negative experience, which in our minds was far too many. So, what could we do to improve our users’ experience?
To start with, we can manage people’s expectations better. We generally found that people whose experience matched their expectations were more positive. So, we have started to write letters that explain more clearly what people can expect, for example, about how long they will have to wait, and what they should wear, and whether they can bring drinks and food. We are exploring using text messages to remind people about their hearings, and to update them on the progression of their case.
These simple prompts help to reduce the anxiety of stepping into an unknown situation. When you receive a party invitation, typically you are told about the dress code; why should a court or tribunal hearing give you less information?
We also looked at what drives a good experience
Our findings would not be surprising to anyone who has studied procedural justice. More than anything else - even more than getting the outcome they wanted - is that people wanted to be heard; this is what people mean when they say they ‘want their day in court’. They wanted to be heard both literally and emotionally; in other words, they wanted to speak to a member of staff when they needed to, and they also wanted us to understand the problems they were facing.
A big problem to solve
HMCTS has fewer staff than we used to, and we have really old telephone systems in most of our court buildings. Often, if staff are busy, the phone can ring and ring. So, we have started to centralise our calls into courts and tribunals service centres where we have more modern telephone systems, which means that you are more likely to be able to speak to someone.² And this leaves our colleagues in court and tribunal buildings with more time for you in person. We are always hearing feedback that our staff are empathetic and helpful. We are now working on more ways to help them to help people, and to reward them when they do so. For example, our ‘human voice of justice’ approach to communication is helping staff to translate often complex processes into something easier to understand. And you can now let us know when a member of staff has been particularly kind or helpful, and we will make sure that our colleague gets your thanks. People who use the courts and tribunals are often going through a tough time in their lives. We cannot take that away, but we can, at least, help you to feel heard through the process and give you the information you need, when you need it.
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1 HM Courts & Tribunals Service: citizen user experience research, June 2018, available at: https://tinyurl.com/y2ngdwmp
2 ‘New service centres see quicker support for court users’, HMCTS press release, 15 August 2019, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yxmnnge3