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Fact sheet: Common Platform

Updated 7 March 2024

Applies to England and Wales

View or manage a case on Common Platform.

Find out how to use Common Platform.

Read about registering for Common Platform. You can email the onboarding team if you have any questions.

Common Platform is a digital case management system. It allows all parties involved in a criminal case secure access to case information, including:

• the judiciary
• solicitors and barristers
• Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
• court staff

Each platform user only sees the material appropriate to them, and has immediate access to the most up-to-date information.

This reduces the need for manual document handling and improves how criminal cases are accessed, managed and processed.

Common Platform is in use in all criminal courts across England and Wales.

1. Headline figures

As of 31 January 2024, Common Platform has:

• accepted over 1.3 million cases onto the system
• managed over 1 million hearings in the Crown and magistrates’ court
• onboarded legal professionals from over 1,650 firms

2. Main outcomes

The purpose of Common Platform is to link HMCTS more effectively with criminal justice partners through one central, online system. This is to give the parties in a case quicker access to the most up-to-date information, and to free up court staff for work that they can add most value.

We’ve achieved several major outcomes towards these goals, including:

• the system is live in all criminal courts in England and Wales and is used to hear cases in both the Crown and magistrates’ courts
• recording the adjudication in the courtroom on a new single IT software platform which is used in the Crown and magistrates’ courts, replacing unintegrated IT systems that did not talk to each other
• case information is available online to defence practitioners, the police and witness care, Crown Prosecution Service, National Probation Service, youth offending teams and prisons
• when court users have administrative queries in the magistrates’ court, our Courts and Tribunals Service Centre (CTSC) resolves these to make sure consistent, easy access to customer support is available

3. How Common Platform helps courts run more smoothly

From a clerk in the Crown Court who feels like they’re “constantly spinning plates” to a legal adviser handling up to 30 cases each day, using several different software systems has made things challenging for staff in a courtroom.

Switching to Common Platform, all the information about the case is in one place. This makes it easier for legal advisers and court clerks to access case details for entirety of the case and keep a court log. Similarly, staff can record results and generate notices, orders and warrants to share with the appropriate agencies automatically in the courtroom as soon as a case is concluded.

The system uses modern digital technology to keep the right people informed, automate processes and issue reminders. It helps keep cases moving through court. It also enables us to collect essential data to help us better understand the needs of court users and continually improve our services.

Common Platform also means that the parties in a case, including defence, can ‘self-serve’ case materials as soon as they’re uploaded to the system, removing the need to request and wait for them.

4. Looking ahead

Our priorities for Common Platform in 2024/25 are to:

• enhance the product we have to support legal and court processes
• fix problems and defects, and improve the user experience
• improve the overall performance, stability and efficiency of the platform
• Retain and enhance the Digital Case System (DCS) and link it to Common Platform

5. Feedback

Carl Nadim, defence solicitor:

I have used Common Platform from the outset which has really assisted in the efficiency of dealing with cases. Being able to login to a Cloud-based system to retrieve evidence and communicate with the other parties frees up so much more time, to prepare and attend court ready to progress, especially when I’m Court Duty. Common Platform really is the next step in finally achieving a system between all parties which will help remove the communication barriers which are all too present in today’s court system.

Jon Sugden, legal adviser at HMCTS:

My first impression of Common Platform was it was more modern than previous systems, especially in its design and feel. Dealing with a case on a single system, rather than at least 3 different systems as we did previously, is more practical and efficient.

Mark Whitely, formerly Wales transformation implementer at HMCTS:

I like that producing orders is far simpler, now they are created directly from the result. There’ is no need to produce orders manually and email them or complete a lengthy electronic monitoring form.

6. Who we’re working with

To make sure Common Platform works for all users, we’re working together with:

• CPS
• judiciary
• magistracy
• Legal Aid Agency
• defence professionals (including the Bar Council, Criminal Bar Association, Law Society)
• police forces
• witness care units
• youth offending teams
• NHS Liaison and Diversion
• HM Prisons and Probation Service
• Big Word (interpreting service provider)
• justice contractors
• Electronic monitoring service
• media
• consultation with departmental trade unions

The data included on this page is drawn from either management information or Ministry of Justice (MOJ) official statistics. Management information reflects the data held on our case management system, and is subject to change. Official statistics are fully quality-assured and form the agreed definitive position.