The Supreme Court’s digital reform programme was delivered not only on time and within budget - but slashed permission to appeal application timescales from 35 weeks to eight weeks, its corporate services director has revealed.
The court's three-year ‘Change Programme’ ended last month – the same time HM Courts & Tribunals Service’s reform programme officially ended.
But while HMCTS’s programme had to be extended by a year and adjusted along the way, a Westminster Legal Policy Forum conference heard on Monday that the UK's highest court's programme was delivered on time, within budget and has delivered a full digital transformation comprising 46 services that have ‘transformed’ users’ ability to learn about, interact and file cases.
The end result includes a new case management system and portal, separate websites for the Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and ‘contact the court’ functionality.
Corporate services director Sam Clark told the conference that timescales for permission to appeal applications have fallen from 35 to eight weeks. The court will save £6m in costs and staff time over the next 10 years, allowing staff to concentrate on ‘more focused’ activities. The time it takes to find information on the website has halved.
Efficiency and tacking backlogs in the courts system was the subject of Monday’s conference. Clark acknowledged that the Supreme Court is a department in its own right, does not deal with criminal cases and does not have a backlog. However, ‘launching something not good enough or is just good enough was never an option’ because it would have damaged the court’s reputation.
The conference heard the court has experienced challenges along the way. ‘We delivered [a] programme alongside business as usual with no extra colleagues… on reflection this was positive naivety on our part that we can do all this at the same time when in reality it creates unnecessary pinch points,’ Clark said.
Clark added it was important to put users at the heart of everything being done and invest time listening to everyone. Those attending the conference were clearly impressed by what they heard. One attendee said: ‘A fantastic success story and great example of a continuous improvement mindset.’
Clark also revealed that HM Treasury turned down its bid for cash ‘more than once’.
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