His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) say they have reduced the total open probate caseload by 49% over the past 12 months to just under 35,500 as part of efforts to improve their service.
The statistics are drawn from HMCTS Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25 in which HMCTS say the number of probate applications waiting to be dealt with fell by 33,000 this year from over 69,000 at the end of March 2024. In order to tackle the backlog extra staff have been recruited to handle the applications.
Within the backlog are cases currently on hold pending clarification or further information from the applicant, which means they cannot currently be progressed. The remaining ‘workable’ cases have reduced from over 35,000 to less than 9,000 (75% decrease) during the same period.
“We are being more proactive in managing those cases that have been ‘placed on hold’ for a long time by contacting people to discuss the outstanding information waiting to be submitted, and increased engagement with professional users to gain their feedback and to try and resolve any issues.”
adds the report.
HMCTS has been undergoing a Reform Programme since 2016, costing £1.3bn and delivering what was described at the time as ‘the most ambitious programme of its kind in the world.’
The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice published a joint statement in 2016 setting out the fact that, despite our courts and legal systems being world-renowned, much of the system was antiquated, paper-based, and not fit for the future. It recognised that unnecessarily complicated processes were not designed around users, leading to frustration and confusion, as well as costing far too much to run.
Many of its services have been digitised across crime, civil, family and tribunals services; in probate digital uptake has risen from 17% in 2019 to 80% in 2025, resulting in probate applications made online using the digital service, from submission to grant of probate, being processed four times quicker than using the paper service;
HMCTS say it has reduced the time to process probate applications from six weeks to just over five weeks for digital applications, and from just over 23 weeks to under 13 weeks for paper applications; the average waiting time for a grant to be issued has fallen by 4 weeks.
