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.

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).