Administration of justice
HMCTS: improving how you access and manage civil, family and tribunal cases
MyHMCTS will provide a single place for legal firms and other organisations to manage applications subject to the jurisdiction of the County Court, Family Court and tribunals.
About the author: Rachel Hunt is HM Courts & Tribunals Service deputy director, Civil Jurisdiction.
In gathering my thoughts for this article, I found myself feeling nostalgic about the 1990s, recalling times when familiar faces appeared daily to progress their cases at the public counter in the small south west city where I began my working life.
Life has changed enormously since then, yet the ways in which we expect legal professionals to interact with our civil, family and tribunals services have hardly changed at all.
Perhaps this makes MyHMCTS, a service for legal firms and other organisations, all the more exciting and significant. It signals the start of real change for these frequent users of HMCTS services, in ways much more fitting for the 2020s.
What is MyHMCTS?
When all of our services become available online, MyHMCTS will provide a single place for Chartered Legal Executives, and other firms and organisations, to issue, pay for and manage applications falling within the jurisdiction of the County Court, Family Court and tribunals.
Employees within an organisation will be able to access all live cases from a single case list. They will receive notifications of any status changes (such as an order having been made) and be able to provide others within their organisation with access to their cases. Users with the relevant permissions will also be able to view their Payment by Account (PBA) transactions.
MyHMCTS has been designed based on feedback from legal professionals working in firms of all sizes and in a variety of business areas.
Who is already using it?
Organisations can already register to use MyHMCTS, and around 1,650 have chosen to so far. At the moment, only probate and divorce services are available online to legal professionals through MyHMCTS, although financial remedy, immigration appeals and family public law (care) proceedings will be joining soon. Unsurprisingly, those registered so far are mostly firms of solicitors dealing with probate and divorce, along with a smaller number of will-writing services, chartered accountants and notaries public.
A MESSAGE FROM HMCTS CEO, SUSAN ACLAND-HOOD
Coronavirus has brought an unprecedented challenge to the running of our courts and tribunals, but I am proud of how we have all united to keep the wheels of justice turning. I wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you to all CILEx members for your contributions to this response and your continued commitment as we all adapt to these temporary new ways of working.
There are several ways that all CILEx members can keep up to date with the latest information on how we are meeting the challenges of coronavirus in our courts and tribunals, and I would encourage you to:
- Visit the dedicated HMCTS guidance page on COVID-19 for the latest guidance during the pandemic.
- Subscribe to our daily operational update, emailed directly to you every weekday morning to provide a summary of the operational position relating to courts and tribunals.
- Follow us on our offcial social media accounts @HMCTSgovuk (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook) for regular news, guidance and advice.
How do I register?
Registration is free and usually confirmed within three working days. Anyone wishing to register can do so by visiting our MyHMCTS registration page. Once registered and confirmed as an administrator for their organisation, MyHMCTS users can invite colleagues to create their own accounts, choosing the type of access required for each person. From their own login, people can then issue new applications, view case details online and take action to progress cases as needed.
Why register now when only probate and divorce services are available?
- Registered organisations will automatically get access to new services as they become available.
- Users will see all their cases progressing online in one place without having to log in and out of individual services, thereby removing the need to telephone, email or visit an HMCTS venue to establish what is happening on a given case.
- Users will be able to take action to progress cases issued online, such as uploading a digital bundle, quickly and easily from their desk.
Confirmation of accounts
Since the launch of MyHMCTS, we have conducted extensive evaluation into the uptake and performance of the service. As part of this, we have had feedback that some users have not received an email confirming their registration on the platform, which we know has the potential to cause confusion. I would like to assure CILEx members that the team is currently looking into this, as a priority, to understand why this is happening in some cases and hopes to resolve the matter soon.