Policy paper

HMCTS Vulnerability Action Plan October 2023 update

Updated 8 August 2024

1.  Introduction

Needing to use one of our services can be a daunting experience for anyone. It can be an even bigger challenge for the most vulnerable in our society.

We say that people are vulnerable when they have a difficulty and need extra support. This could be a disability, mental health condition or an experience which has made someone feel unsafe.

Our Vulnerability Action Plan shows how we aim to make our courts and tribunals accessible for everyone. It sets out what we’re doing to make sure our vulnerable users are not disadvantaged or discriminated against, as we deliver services now and in the future.

We’re committed to making sure we’re listening to people using our services who are more vulnerable, and our partners who support vulnerable groups. We’re working to adapt and improve our services to meet their needs. We’re working with our Ministry of Justice (MoJ) colleagues and other government departments to make sure we provide the right level of support. It’s important to us our vulnerable users can always access the justice system safely and with confidence.

2. Background

We’re committed to keeping our Vulnerability Action Plan up to date, we last published in April 2023.

As before, this plan includes our work as part of our reform programme to design future accessible services.

We continue to focus on three priority areas. These are:

• providing our vulnerable users with support to access and participate in court and tribunal services and signposting to other sources of information and support when needed
• gathering and collating evidence and using it to identify impacts of changes on vulnerable users
• making our services accessible for vulnerable users.

We’ll continue to make sure our vulnerable users can access our services and will do this through:

• ongoing engagement with vulnerable users and our partners who support vulnerable groups needs
• implementing cross government strategies such as the National Disability Strategy, the National strategy for autistic children, young people, and adults, and the MoJ Neurodiversity action plan.

3.  What we’ve done since our last update

3.1. Providing our vulnerable users with support to access and participate in court and tribunal services and signposting to other sources of information and support when needed

Cross Jurisdictional

We have:

• created training and tools for staff to identify users’ needs and signposted them to support when they have additional needs that HMCTS cannot meet

• continued the national digital support service for users across England, Wales and Scotland.  The service supports users, who are unable to, or struggle getting online. We continue to work with We Are Group (formerly We Are Digital), one of the UK’s leading digital skills and inclusion providers. Together we have supported users of Social Security and Child Support, Single Justice Service, Online Civil Money Claims, Probate, Divorce and Help with Fees to use our online services

• supported HMCTS staff to complete safeguarding learning to help protect vulnerable users at risk of harm or neglect

• monitored the introduction of the webchat option for Employment Tribunal in Scotland. We’ve identified the need to improve accessibility. Webchat offers support to users who are less confident using IT

Civil, Family and Tribunals

We have:

• continued to deliver our National Domestic Abuse Action Plan, which will help parties through the court process

• refreshed domestic abuse training and will support staff to complete by the end of 2023

• reviewed the results of a pilot of Family Private Law applications for litigants in person. Work on improvements means we are ready to continue testing to see how we can improve the system for applicants. Private Law cases are between family members, such as parents or other relatives and do not involve Local Authority

Crime

We have:

• supported the delivery of NHS programmes to roll out health care services in our remand suites. This will help vulnerable defendants identified through Liaison and Diversion services
• made it possible for vulnerable victims and witnesses to have their evidence pre-recorded at a location away from the court or official remote link sites, under Section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. This allows the recording of evidence and cross-examination prior to trial, subject to judicial discretion. This will help vulnerable victims and witnesses such as:
• all child witnesses

• any witness whose quality of evidence is likely to be diminished because they: 5. are suffering from a mental disorder 6. have a significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning 7. have a physical disability or are suffering from a physical disorder

• made improvements to the facilities and technology at three Crown courts (Snaresbrook, Leeds, and Newcastle) through the Specialist Sexual Violence Support (SSVS) pilot. This is to improve the experience of adult rape victims in the Crown Courts.

3.2 Gathering and collating evidence and using it to identify impacts of changes on vulnerable users

Cross Jurisdictional

We have:

• continued to carry out access to justice assessments across Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC), Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), Divorce and Probate. These assessments help identify common barriers to accessing justice, what causes these barriers and what might help remove them
• collected protected characteristics data from: – Divorce – Probate – Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC) – Social Security and Child Support Tribunal (SSCS) – Employment Tribunal (ET) – Immigration and Asylum Chamber (IAC) – Online Plea for the Single Justice Service – Jury summons

to help us gain a fuller understanding of people who use our services.

3.3 Making our services accessible for vulnerable users

Cross Jurisdictional

We have:

• introduced the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme across all our sites, as part of our commitment in the cross-government autism strategy. Some people choose to wear the Sunflower lanyard to discreetly show they need additional support, help or a little more time

• delivered accessibility awareness workshops to staff at the Royal Courts of Justice to help support vulnerable users

• remained an active member of the Unwanted Prisoner Contact Working Group which supports tackling witness intimidation by remand prisoners

• expanded the Video Hearings Service to all jurisdictions. Video hearings allow those involved in the hearing to attend remotely, if agreed by the judge.

Civil, Family and Tribunals

We have:

• made improvements to the divorce process by making the language we use online, easier to understand

• delivered a national webinar for our staff to promote the work of CourtNav, an online tool to help anyone completing Family Law applications to get legal protection in England or Wales. This helps staff signpost applicants to the right support when considering an application for a non-molestation or occupation order. Non-molestation or occupation orders protect people from abuse or harassment

• introduced case flags to our civil case management systems. Case flags notify staff that something specific is required in a case. This could be special measures, reasonable adjustments, Welsh language or anything else the court needs to be aware of.

4. Our plan

4.1 Providing our vulnerable users with support to access and participate in court and tribunal services and signposting to other sources of information and support when needed

We are:	Schedule for completion
increasing access to the national digital support service. This is for users across England, Wales and Scotland. The service supports users, who are unable to, or struggle getting online. We’ll focus on: developing and implementing support across the full application process, onboarding new services so that we can support more users, developing the list of partners delivering the service to make sure we deliver quality support to all users that need it, and analysing user experiences to better understand their needs to improve our service	Ongoing
creating new guidance to help staff support users experiencing trauma	Summer 2024
continuing to embed the HMCTS Safeguarding Policy to help protect vulnerable users from abuse or neglect	Ongoing
implementing changes to the current fee remission scheme following a recent public consultation. Both digital and paper applications will be available for our users	Spring 2024
supporting staff to complete domestic abuse training	Winter 2023
continuing to test Family Private Law applications for litigants in person to see how we can improve the system for applicants. Private Law cases are between family members, such as parents or other relatives and do not involve a local authority	Summer 2024
extending the current webchat option for Employment Tribunal users in Scotland to users in England and Wales through our Court and Tribunal Service Centres. Webchat offers support to users who are less confident using IT	Summer 2024
conducting an evaluation of the Video Hearing Service in the crime jurisdiction. User researchers are working with interpreters to understand the functionality they need to best support users	Ongoing
piloting a juror counselling service and juror de-briefing sessions at 15 court sites across the crime estate	Summer 2024
continuing to engage with NHS colleagues to deliver services to those with poor metal health, learning difficulties, substance misuse or other vulnerabilities, The aim is to reduce risk, reoffending and improve outcomes	Ongoing
continuing to support the MoJ to deliver the Specialist Sexual Violence Support (SSVS) project by rolling out trauma-informed training for staff. This is to improve the experience of adult rape victims in the Crown Court.	Summer 2024

4.2 Gathering and collating evidence and using it to identify impacts of changes on vulnerable users

We are:	Schedule for completion	Jurisdiction involved
continuing to carry out access to justice assessments across our services. These assessments allow HMCTS to help identify common barriers to accessing justice, what causes these barriers and what might help remove them	Ongoing	Cross- jurisdictional
continuing to collect protected characteristics data, which will help us gain a fuller understanding of people who use our services.	Ongoing	Cross- jurisdictional
working with OCS, one of our contracted services partners to understand the content of their training material on domestic abuse awareness for Court Security Officers	Ongoing	Cross- jurisdictional
making improvements to the existing Usher training to support victims of domestic abuse	Spring 2024	Cross- jurisdictional
working with HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to make sure they are notified of non-molestation orders. Non molestation orders protect people from abuse or harassment. This will help HMPPS manage offender behaviour to prevent protected parties from receiving unwanted contact.	Ongoing	Civil, Family and Tribunal

4.3 Making services accessible for vulnerable users

We are:	Schedule for completion	Jurisdiction involved
continuously updating forms so they are clear and easy to use and making sure that when we introduce a digital process a paper option is also available for our users	Ongoing	Cross- jurisdictional
continuing to make improvements to physical accessibility of our buildings	Ongoing	Cross- jurisdictional
making improvements to the Automated Payment Line (APL) which gives another way to pay for warrants on County Court Judgements (CCJ’s). The improvements provide our users with better information on how to use the APL	Spring 2024	Civil, Family and Tribunals
digitising the general divorce application process. This will make it easier for users to submit further information when requested through the online portal rather than email.	Autumn 2024	Family

5.  Looking to the future

We’ll continue to review any changes we make to understand what the impacts are on vulnerable users.

The MoJ is conducting an overall evaluation of the Reform programme, which is focussed on access to justice and vulnerability across all jurisdictions. As part of this, they have commissioned a qualitative study that will explore the challenges that vulnerable adults with legal problems experience, and what support would have helped them access justice. More information can be found at HMCTS Reform Overarching Evaluation: Research.

We’ll continue to talk with external stakeholders and partners and if we find negative impacts on vulnerable people using our services, we’ll continue to take steps to fix them and include our work in our Vulnerability Action Plan.

We’ll continue to publish our plan on GOV.UK.