Court of Protection

(asked on 21st October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for Court of Protection decisions.


Answered by
Alex Chalk Portrait
Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This question was answered on 2nd November 2020

HMCTS and the MOJ have been working together to pilot new, digital ways of working in the Court of Protection that could streamline processes and remove both administrative and procedural delay. Emphasis has also been placed on increased digital working, to increase efficiency and facilitate remote working for both Court users and Court staff. These pilots are still in their early stages.

A digital upload pilot that commenced in April enables professional users to submit their Property and Affairs deputyship applications online. Over 200 applications have now been issued through this pilot, which has enabled orders, in non-contentious cases, to be made within weeks of the application being received.

A second pilot is being developed to encourage applicants to notify parties upfront. This will remove delays in waiting for responses and enable non-contentious cases to be dealt with in a more timely and efficient manner.

In addition, this month a new centralised team will be created at the Court of Protection, called the ‘Orders Hub’, to focus specifically on orders and process them more efficiently. Staff will be provided with targeted training to increase their expertise, tasks will be completed in tandem to reduce the time taken and areas of improvement will be identified to allow changes to be implemented. This will enable court orders to be issued quicker, and some within days of receipt

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