The waiting time for probate applications has yet again significantly decreased in the number of weeks from submission to grant issue for all probate applications – decreasing from 11.3 to 1o.2 weeks, according to HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS).
Last month marked the shortest waiting time since March of last year, which stood at 10.8 weeks. The waiting time is now generously decreased to 10.2 weeks for the month of April.
For the 28,356 grants of probate issued in April, the average timeline from submission to grant was 10.2 weeks – showing a further decrease from March which was 11.3, according to the data.
The waiting time is the shortest number of weeks seen for a while. As of recent, the waiting time seemed to keep going up – resulting in a new waiting time record of 15.8 weeks which sparked concerns within the industry.
Of the 28,356 total number of grants issued, 23,706 were digital which shows that the number of digital applications is increasing – revealing the popularity of digitisation. For non-stopped applications, the average wait was 4.9 weeks, which shows that it has decreased from 6.1 weeks in March.
For stopped digital applications, delays sat 20.5 weeks in April – an slight decrease from the previous month (21 weeks) yet still an increase from the 18.6 weeks seen in February. The 21 week wait seen in March shows the longest wait for stopped digital applications since November of last year.
What’s more, the remaining 4,650 probate grants in April were issued via paper. The average wait between submission and grant for a paper application was 23.1 weeks, down from 23.7 in March. For stopped applications, the 33.8 week wait in April is down slightly from the 33.9 weeks in the previous month.
