HMCTS weekly operational summary on courts and tribunals during coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak (25 September 2020)

Guidance

HMCTS weekly operational summary on courts and tribunals during coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

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This page provides a weekly summary of the HM Courts and Tribunals Service operational position during the coronavirus pandemic. We will aim to update this every Friday at 5pm.

Published 24 April 2020
Last updated 25 September 2020 — see all updates

From:

HM Courts & Tribunals Service

We are issuing weekly updates on our operational position and we’ll email our subscribers each Sunday evening with a reminder. On Monday mornings we’ll also publish a link to the weekly update on Twitter.

You can see our previously issued daily operational updates.

We’ll keep this under review.

HMCTS operational summary for week commencing Monday 28 September 2020

Next week’s update will be issued on Friday 2 October 2020.

Following the announcements on the local restrictions in England and those local restrictions in Wales, courts and tribunals will continue to function in these regions as normal. As an essential public service, work continues as before and there are currently no plans to change scheduled hearings. This is the same as the approach taken when similar local restrictions were implemented earlier in the summer, for example in the city of Leicester. We are following public health advice and are experienced in managing COVID-secure ways of working with a range of mitigating measures in place.
We’re asking that court and tribunal users wear a face covering in all public and communal parts of our buildings in England and Wales. Those people using our buildings in Scotland may also wear face coverings, but they remain optional. We’ve published guidance on wearing a face covering when coming to court.
Updated: We will be opening 3 further Nightingale Courts at Salford, York and Middlesbrough week commencing 28 September 2020. A formal announcement was published earlier this week.
Updated: Our webinar on our recovery in the criminal courts took place on Wednesday 23 October 2020. We’ve published a recording of the event and the accompanying slides.
Our Courts and Tribunals Service Centres will be available from 8am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 4pm on Fridays until further notice. Courts and Tribunals Service Centre - advice on contacting HMCTS during coronavirus (PDF, 218KB, 5 pages).
Updated: Our digital service to Submit and Manage your Appeals in the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal is now available in Welsh. Welsh language services update (PDF, 134KB, 1 page).

Crime

Updated: From week commencing Monday 28 September 2020, jury trials will have resumed in 74 Crown Courts and be running in 4 Nightingale Courts.
Crown Courts due to restart jury trials in October 2020 (dates to be confirmed) – Doncaster Justice Centre South (Doncaster Crown Court), satellite of Sheffield, Burnley Combined Court Centre, Preston Crown Court and Family Court (Sessions House) Annex, King’s Lynn Crown Court, Lewes Combined Court and Isle of Wight Combined Court (Newport).
Updated: From Monday 28 September 2020, Cardiff Crown Court will be the next court to start testing COVID-19 Operating Hours. The Crown Court at Snaresbrook, Kingston-Upon-Hull, Stafford, Portsmouth and Reading continue to pilot COVID-19 Operating Hours. This will help increase our capacity to hear cases and reduce the backlog that has built up during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Updated: During the week commencing Monday 28 September 2020 we plan to install plexiglass screens in 57 courtrooms and 35 retiring rooms across the Crown Court estate, in order to safely resume jury trials. By the end of next week we will have installed screens in over 200 courtrooms and over 100 jury retiring rooms. Further installations are being planned for October 2020.
Updated: We have installed Portakabin® portable buildings at Bradford Combined Court, Kingston-Upon-Hull Combined Court and Leeds Combined Court. The buildings provide additional eight additional hearing rooms in total.
Crown Courts continue to deal with a range of work remotely, including sentencing hearings and all urgent applications including applications for bail and applications to extend custody time limits. Pre-trial preparation hearings and further case management hearings are also taking place.
Magistrates’ courts are now dealing with most business type hearings. Since August magistrates’ courts have been completing more cases than have been received and the number of sittings are almost at pre-covid levels. We are working hard to return this to 100%, in a COVID-safe way.
The judiciary has published a note of listing in magistrates’ courts during coronavirus outbreak.
All questions about paying an outstanding criminal court fine should be sent to our National Compliance and Enforcement Service at NCESWE@justice.gov.uk or call 0300 123 9252.

Family

Family courts business priorities. Family court business priorities w/c 28 September 2020 (PDF, 87.6KB, 1 page).
Family court C100 (child arrangements) guidance. Family court: Child Arrangements C100 application guidance (PDF, 121KB, 1 page).

Civil

Civil court listing priorities. Civil court listing priorities w/c 28 September 2020 (PDF, 76.3KB, 1 page).
Updated: Possession cases restarted this week following a pause in March 2020. We have published a page that contains updated forms and documents to reactivate a possession case, as well as information for claimants and defendants on possession cases.

Tribunals

The Judiciary have published various updates, user help guides and frequently asked questions documents on their website.

Royal Courts of Justice

Rule changes regarding Writs of Possession have been approved by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and are effective as of Monday 24 August Writs of Possession rule changes (PDF, 35.4KB, 1 page).
The Royal Courts of Justice operational update: The Royal Courts of Justice operational update w/c 28 September 2020 (PDF, 78.7KB, 1 page).
The High Court is covering work according to the High Court Contingency Plan.
More detailed guidance for the Administrative Court Office. Administrative Court Office guidance (PDF, 290KB, 8 pages) Queen's Bench guidance (PDF, 394KB, 3 pages)
More detailed guidance for the Queen’s Bench. Queen's Bench guidance - Interim Applications Court (PDF, 166KB, 1 page) Queen's Bench guidance - Bulletin 1 (PDF, 258KB, 3 pages) Queen's Bench information for court users (PDF, 592KB, 12 pages) HMCTS Document Upload Centre - Professional User's Guide (PDF, 511KB, 3 pages) Queen's Bench guidance - Document Upload Centre (PDF, 62.7KB, 1 page).
The Court of Appeal Civil Division is covering work according to the RCJ Court of Appeal Civil urgent business priorities. Court of Appeal Civil urgent business priorities w/c 28 September 2020 (PDF, 90KB, 1 page).
The Court of Appeal Criminal Division is covering work according to the RCJ Court of Appeal Criminal Emergency Plan. RCJ Court of Appeal Criminal Division update w/c 28 September 2020 (PDF, 102KB, 3 pages).
The Royal Courts of Justice Fees Office is currently open to the public between 10am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday Royal Courts of Justice Fees Office update (PDF, 437KB, 1 page).
The Senior Costs Judge has published a note on hearings and detailed assessments in the Senior Courts Costs Office Senior Courts Costs Office update (PDF, 64.6KB, 3 pages).

Judicial announcements

The Judicial Office has published important advice and guidance, including user help guides.

Previous editions

Published 24 April 2020
Last updated 25 September 2020 + show all updates

IRRV Alert - week ending 25th September 2020

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