Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the Law Society’s report Online court services: Delivering a more efficient digital justice system in October 2023, what assessment they have made of the increase in fees for probate applications at a time when those using the probate online portal are experiencing increased delays and errors.

HMCTS recognises that average waiting times for a grant of probate increased during 2023 following on from a sustained increase in receipts.

HMCTS remains focused on improving the service and doing all we can do to make it as effective and speedy as possible. In addition, HMCTS has increased staffing levels and streamlined internal processes to improve waiting times.

Management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly) shows the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate from receipt of documentation reduced by three weeks in March 2024 to nine weeks.

The increase in the probate application fee to £300 was implemented on 1 May 2024. This was one of 172 court and tribunal fees that were increased by 10% to partially reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index since 2021, the last time that court and tribunal fees were increased. Given the short period of time the higher fee has been in place, an assessment on the impact of the probate fee increase has not been completed at this time. The increases are estimated to raise additional income of £30m-37m per annum, which will provide funding to support the effective delivery of court and tribunal services.