Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the National Association of Funeral Directors report entitled Picking up the pieces, published in April 2023, if she will (a) make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of that report's findings on the number of families that have waited more than four weeks for a funeral and (b) hold discussions with local authorities on coordinating work between (i) health services, (ii) coroners, (iii) undertakers and (iv) others highlighted in that report.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Death management is a complex and sensitive area, spanning the work of multiple government departments. Whilst the Government does not have operational responsibility for the provision of funeral services, we are aware of funeral delays in some areas and acknowledge that these are often exacerbated by pressures from within the wider death management system. Death management policy sits across a number of government departments and responsible departments take a collaborative approach to addressing concerns in this area and are committed to continuing to work together, and with local authorities, to improve timeliness and services provided to the bereaved.
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time was for probate cases to be processed in (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Mike Freer
The average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, following receipt of the documents required, is:
a) 7.3 weeks in 2021-22
b) 7.8 weeks in 2022-23
c) 12.5 weeks during July to September 2023
The majority of grants issued (digital, non-stopped) in July to September were completed within 7 weeks on average. HMCTS is focused on reducing the time for all types of applications to bring down the overall average waiting times.
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly and currently cover the period up to September 2023.
HMCTS are aware of the impact that timeliness has on the financial well-being of recipients and has increased staffing levels, streamlined internal processes and continued to invest in further improving the digital service.
As a result, grant output for recent months has been at record levels, with over 12,000 more grants issued than applications received during the last three months (September to November) using more recent management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly).
Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Honiton and Sidmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the impact of trends in average waiting times for processing probate applications on the financial well-being of recipients.
Answered by Mike Freer
The average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, following receipt of the documents required, is:
a) 7.3 weeks in 2021-22
b) 7.8 weeks in 2022-23
c) 12.5 weeks during July to September 2023
The majority of grants issued (digital, non-stopped) in July to September were completed within 7 weeks on average. HMCTS is focused on reducing the time for all types of applications to bring down the overall average waiting times.
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly and currently cover the period up to September 2023.
HMCTS are aware of the impact that timeliness has on the financial well-being of recipients and has increased staffing levels, streamlined internal processes and continued to invest in further improving the digital service.
As a result, grant output for recent months has been at record levels, with over 12,000 more grants issued than applications received during the last three months (September to November) using more recent management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly).