After concluding a project that, since 2016, has delivered major investment in new technology, the courts service’s CEO has pledged that ‘we remain committed to continuing to modernise the system’
HM Courts and Tribunals Service has realised a “quiet revolution” after completing the eight-year programme of work to deliver a near multibillion-pound digital transformation project.
Having commenced work in late 2016, the HMCTS Reform project had an objective “to improve the accessibility and efficiency of the justice system [and was] centred on the principle that the system should be designed around its users”, according to programme documents.
A key strand of work was rolling out digital tools and other new technology. In an update published to mark the project’s conclusion, HMCTS said that the reform scheme had “launched 14 new digital services across all jurisdictions, from small civil money claims disputes to divorce proceedings in the Family Court and the management of criminal cases”.
Other advances include the installation of video technology in 70% of courtrooms, including 90% of Crown Courts. The new Common Platform case-management system, meanwhile, has been used to support the progress through the justice system of 2.3 million criminal cases, and the project has also “established five modern service centres…[which were used] to answer over 2.3 million calls between April and December 2024 and, for the first time, provide a centralised, dedicated service to public and justice partners”.
In the eight years since delivery of the transformation programme started, the stated whole-lifecycle costs have risen from £1.6bn to £2.8bn, while the completion date has been postponed from 2022 to 2025 and the scope of the project has been scaled back – most recently in its aims for the digitisation of the civil justice system.
The initial implementation costs during the extended delivery timescale amount to £1.3bn, according to the MoJ. The ministry’s most recent set of annual major project data, published in January, cites overall lifetime spending of £2.8bn – a figure which is understood to also include £1.5bn of recurring operational costs over the coming years. These are expected to be offset by the benefits of the new system, the MoJ expects.
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In a recent letter providing an update to the Public Accounts Committee, HMCTS chief executive Nick Goodwin acknowledged that the project has “proved challenging to deliver… [and] has faced delays and reductions in scope”.
But, in a freshly published blog post to mark the programme’s completion, Goodwin praised the developments enabled by the project, and the impact these will have in the years to come.
“Over the last few years, while preserving the fundamentals of our justice system for all those who use and need it, we’ve transformed lots of the technical infrastructure and systems we use to administer courts and tribunals,” he said. “We’ve achieved a huge amount and I’m immensely proud of the programme’s legacy. This quiet revolution has moved us from paper to digital, combined local knowledge with national resilience, stabilised and secured our systems, and set us up for the 21st century.”
HMCTS’s accompanying update said that, alongside the rollout of digital and tech systems, the programme has enabled the courts service to shutter “underused buildings or sites where upkeep was no longer sustainable”, while making investment “in future sites, as well as tackling ongoing maintenance and repairs”.
Chief executive Goodwin added: “As the programme officially concludes, we remain committed to continuing to modernise the system – to ensure easier access to justice for those who rely on our services and value for money for taxpayers.”
