HMCTS Common Platform: view or manage a case
Common Platform allows the police, judiciary, solicitors, barristers and criminal justice agencies to access and edit case information.
Applies to England and Wales
If you are a defence professional you can use this service to:
- link yourself to a case or defendant so the Legal Aid Agency is informed for payment purposes
- self-serve case materials, including the initial details of the prosecution case (IDPC) and the pre-trial readiness form (PET form) in the magistrates’ court
- serve documents on the court for magistrates’ Common Platform cases
If you are a member of the judiciary, HMCTS or a partner agency, you can use the service to view cases and take part in Common Platform hearings.
Before you start
To use the service, you must have an account. If you are a defence professional, your firm or chambers must register you for your account.
We will verify your application and send you an approval email within 3 working days. You will then need to activate your account and set up your security authentication.
Find a case
Once you have activated your account, you can start accessing case information in Common Platform on a desktop, laptop or tablet device.
You will need your phone for the security authentication but cannot use it to access Common Platform.
You cannot use Internet Explorer for Common Platform, so you may need to copy the link into one of these browsers:
- Edge (or Edge Chromium)
- Chrome
- Firefox
- Safari
Get help and guidance
See our guides on using Common Platform:
- How to use Common Platform: for defence professionals on activating an account and using Common Platform to manage cases
- Common Platform for defence administrators: creating user accounts, assigning roles and other admin functionality
If you need help getting a unique reference number for a case, or have a business related query on a Common Platform case, contact the courts and tribunals service centre (CTSC).
If you need further help or have questions that are not addressed in the guidance, you can contact us on our helpdesk.
CTSC
Telephone: 0330 808 4407
Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm
Closed on bank holidays
Email: contactcrime@justice.gov.uk
Helpdesk
Telephone: 020 3989 6060
Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm
Saturdays, 8am to 2pm
Closed on Sundays and bank holidays
Email: CJSCP-DefenceServiceDesk@hmcts.net
If you are not a defence solicitor or administrator, email CJSCP-ServiceDesk@hmcts.net.
We aim to respond to emails within 5 working days.
Updates to this page
Published 23 November 2021Last updated 10 June 2024 + show all updates
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Updated the Courts and Tribunals Service Centre email address.
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Added browser and security info and consistency changes to get help guidance
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Added links to new guides
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Added translation