Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) personal and (b) solicitor applications for probate to the Winchester registry office had been outstanding on 17 June 2019 for more than (i) 10 days and (ii) 10 weeks; and when that backlog of cases will have been resolved.

The volume of outstanding probate cases at the Winchester Registry Office on 17 June was as follows: -

Personal Applications

• 997 more than 10 days
• 250 more than 10 weeks

Solicitors Applications

• 3274 more than 10 days
• 211 more than 10 weeks

Cases outstanding for more than 10 weeks will include those in which the circumstances are beyond the Probate Service’s control. For example, applicants may be still waiting for their inheritance tax forms from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, or they may not have accounted for all executors named in the will. These requirements must be satisfied before the grant is issued.

Urgent action has been taken to address delays - staffing has been increased and the digital service further improved to reduce the waiting times in order to return performance to normal levels as soon as possible.