Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

i. Introducing a new online process for resolving claims: In line with plans across all jurisdictions, we will move more cases away from physical court rooms. Building on Lord Justice Briggs’ proposals in his Civil Court Structures Review we will create a new process to resolve many disputes entirely online, using innovative technology and specialist case officers to progress routine cases through the system and reserving judicial time for the most complex cases. We will create a new, streamlined Rules Committee to design this new system and keep the processes simple. When hearings are required, they may be held over thetelephone or video conference, focusing court resources on the most complex and difficult cases. This will mean that cases should reach a quicker resolution.

ii. Encouraging parties to resolve disputes themselves where possible: We will

increase signposting to mediation and alternative dispute resolution services to

help people avoid court for minor disputes that would be better handled privately,

without needing the court to intervene.

iii. Extending the fixed recoverable costs regime: Fixed recoverable costs are legal

costs which can be recovered from the losing side by the successful party to a

claim, at a prescribed rate. (For civil claims, these are set out in the Civil

Procedure Rules). We will build on measures introduced in the last Parliament for

low value personal injury claims, to limit the level of legal costs recoverable.

These measures provide transparency and certainty for all parties and are

designed to ensure that the amount of legal work done is proportionate to the

value of the claim. We are keen to extend the fixed recoverable costs regime to

as many civil cases as possible. The senior judiciary will be developing proposals

on which we will then consult.

iv. Civil enforcement: We will give the [county court] powers to issue attachment of

earnings orders to the High Court to create a simpler, more consistent approach

to enforcement, and make sure more people can get the money they are owed.

We will also commence the fixed deductions scheme (fixed table) provisions in

the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 in the County Court and

introduce fixed tables in the High Court, providing transparency and certainty of

the rate of deductions from debtors’ earnings to pay back their creditors.

v. Replacing statutory declarations in county court proceedings with a witness

statement verified by a statement of truth: We will replace outdated and currently

inconsistent procedures, which are inconvenient for people to use and resource

intensive to administer, with a more modern digital approach but keeping strong

penalties where a statement of truth is found to be false.

See chapter 3 in https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/transforming-our-courts-and-tribunals/supporting_documents/consultationpaper.pdf