Changes to courts

The justice system is complex. Through public consultations last year, proposals to improve the way cases are taken forward by the courts system have been put forward. Across the criminal, civil and family justice systems, these proposals include simplifying the system, reducing inefficiencies and promoting alternatives to court.

Criminal justice

Proposals to reform and re-energise the criminal justice system at a national and local level to reconnect with victims and local communities include:

Abolishing unnecessary committal hearings for 'either-way' crimes to help save thousands of hours of court time each year
Saving police time by using live video links so that officers can give evidence from their local police station rather than waiting at court
Publishing justice outcomes and police actions on the national crime mapping website from May, so that people can see what happens next after crimes are committed on their streets
Streamlining the processing of criminal cases, in particular by increased use of digital technology across the criminal justice agencies

Civil justice

The recent civil justice consultation made proposals to overhaul the civil justice system and address the issue of court timeliness. The government will be announcing the next steps soon, but its proposals include:

Giving thousands more people the opportunity to consider telephone-based mediation as a simpler, quicker way to resolve their differences rather than going to court
Reducing the need for formal, lengthy and expensive legal preparation for thousands of cases, by doubling the small claims limit from £5,000 to £10,000
Freeing up county courts and judges time to focus more on people attending court, by sending court forms electronically to centralised business centres for faster processing

Family justice (including care proceedings)

The recent review of family justice, conducted by an independently-chaired panel of experts, highlighted areas where improvements could be made to the way in which the court system supports people going through family breakdown. The review will form a key evidence base for reform, and the government has already committed to some of the recommendations ahead of its response. Specifically:

Putting children's needs at the heart of the system by introducing a 6-month time limit for care cases to be completed
Supporting mediation for separating couples, as a more practical and amicable alternative to court