The Law Society strived to obtain clarity this week by meeting with HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) for an update on the never-ending probate delays.
The Law Society and representatives from Solicitors for the Elderly and Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners attended a follow-up meeting in London to keep the pressure on HMCTS to resolve the probate problems and discuss the ongoing issues from a practical level.
Last week HMCTS publicly apologised for the slowness of the probate service since March 2019 with National Services Director, Jonathan Wood stating:
“A huge surge in demand was mainly to blame, with applications during March and April 2019 more than a 50% increase above the usual monthly volumes…”, further saying that the surge “…. coincided with ‘teething problems’ in migrating a new IT system…”
Discussions followed within the sector as to the variations of length of time applications were being processed and Ian Bond, Chairman of The Law Society’s Wills and Equity Committee saying that the HMCTS were “under-reporting probate delays”.
Following The Law Society’s last meeting they asked the sector for examples of delays which exceeded the six-eight week time frame as stated by HMCTS to find out the extent of the delays and the effect it is having on the practitioners and their clients.
The common recurring themes that were derived from the data retrieved was lack of communication; errors made by HMCTS; property transactions impacted; and financial pressures.
HMCTS yet again apologised and acknowledged the ongoing issues but could not give an exact timescale as to when the delays are likely to end.
HMCTS confirmed they were receiving 700-800 applications daily and from both professional and personal applicants and confirmed that the delays are approximately six to seven weeks.
They will continue to work to reduce probate delays so it returns to normal reflecting the level of work before March 2019.
To reduce the backlog, HMCTS increased their resources by 20% to deal with the influx of applications and recording paper applications onto the new system, which HMCTS has confirmed is now up to date.
The challenge for the HMCTS is quality assurance and issuing the grant of probate. Since April this year, they have processed 98,000 grants but have a backlog of applications from March which only skilled/experienced employees can process.
To combat the delays, HMCTS have employed three additional legal advisers to aid the assurance work, along with a further twenty volunteers offering overtime.
One of the main concerns of practitioners related to communications from local registries to establish an update on their applications. HMCTS propose to work with the management team to improve their communication levels.
In regard to the online service for legal professionals, they are hoping to roll out the system to all practitioners by the end of October.
The Law Society will continue to liaise with HMCTS to improve the probate service and have confirmed the next meeting will be in October at the Birmingham Courts and Tribunals Service.
With Britain’s charity data analysts, Legacy Foresight’s latest bulletin revealing a reduction in charity bequest notifications due to probate delays, Matthew Lagden, CEO of Institute of Legacy Management (ILM) commented following meeting saying the ILM is “still very concerned” about the ongoing problems at the probate registry. He further commented:
“Although we acknowledge that HMCTS is working hard to improve the situation, the continuing delays in issuing Grants of Probate are resulting in reduced incomes for our charity members, who rely on legacy income for the vital services they operate.
“Our charity members tell us the number of legacies they are currently receiving is about 10% lower than at this time last year, and in some cases much more. We are concerned that this will inevitably lead to reduced services unless the situation improves soon.
