Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 28 July 2020.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to accelerate its processing of probate applications during the covid-19 outbreak.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how long on average it has taken his Department to grant probate after the receipt of an application in the most recent month for which such records are available; and if he will make a comparative assessment of that figure and the figure relating to that matter from the equivalent month in the previous year.
The probate service has continued to operate effectively despite the pressures faced during the Covid-19 pandemic. The digital online probate service is available for both citizens and legal professionals and this means that both the applicant, and where necessary, Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), can administer grants remotely.
Additional resources have and continue to be put in place by HMCTS to prepare for any additional demand following the increase in the overall death rate. The most recently published waiting times for a grant of probate covers March 2020 however July 2019 data has been used for the comparison as March and April 2019 is subject to data quality issues following the move to a new computer system.
Average time to grant issue for grants of representation, by grant type, England and Wales 1,2
Probate | ||||||
Application submission to grant issue | Document receipt to grant issue3 | |||||
Mean weeks | Median weeks | Mean weeks | Median weeks | |||
March 2020 | 6.9 | 4.6 | 6.6 | 4.3 | ||
July 2019 | 9.6 | 8.6 | 9.6 | 8.6 | ||
Source HMCTS Core Case Data
1) HMCTS Core Case Data (CCD) came into effect at the end of March 2019, following a transition between data systems recording information regarding The Probate Service
2) The average timeliness figures are produced by calculating the time from application/document receipt (which may be from an earlier period) to the grant issued made in that period
3) Document receipt occurs after payment has been made and all accompanying paperwork has been received by HMCTS
Yes1 person thinks so
No2 people think not
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