Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November to Question 86612, if he will make it his policy to publish the (a) number and (b) proportion of complaints which meet the target of having received a reply within 10 working days.

In September 2022, 32% (108) of Probate complaints were closed within target of 10 days. HMCTS is investing additional resource to improve both the speed of its complaint handling but also probate waiting times.

The average mean time for HMCTS to issue a grant of probate after receiving an actionable piece of correspondence is 33 days. Some grants of probate will be issued significantly quicker than this (5% on the same day) whilst others will take longer (over 2 years is the longest with less than 1% over a year). This is usually when the application is more complicated and further evidence would be required, the removal of a caveat is needed, or a Will is contested.