The delays affecting grants of probate slightly subsided in Q2 2022 when compared with the first quarter, new data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has revealed.
Between April and June of this year, the average time from application submission to grant issue for probate grants was seven weeks overall – a fall from the average eight-week wait seen between January and March.
The average wait for letters of administration with a will and without a will were 16 and 12 weeks respectively in the same period – a slight rise from the previous quarter insofar as those accompanied by a will.
Indeed, the wait for a grant of probate for those applications that were not stopped remained constant at 5 weeks.
The change, however, comes regarding those applications that were stopped, which took 14 weeks on average to be issued, compared to 15 weeks in the previous quarter.
It was also revealed that there has been yet another increase in both the proportion of digital applications for probate grants and probate grants issued digitally. Specifically, 88% of the 58,239 grants of probate issued were done so digitally, compared to 78% in the same quarter in 2021.
Elsewhere in the data, the MoJ reported a continuing increasing trend in Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA). In April to June 2022, there were 192,958 LPAs registered, up 20% compared to the equivalent quarter in 2021.
Moreover, there were 1,457 applications relating to deprivation of liberty made in the most recent quarter, which is a decrease of 5% on the number made in the same quarter in 2021. Furthermore, there was a decrease by 38% in the orders made for deprivation of liberty over the same period from 1,040 to 648.
There has also been a decrease in both applications and orders under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, with 8,498 applications made in April to June 2022, down by 1%. During the same period there were 11,267 orders made, down by 1%.
4 Responses
This data gives a misleading picture. The performance of the Registries, in our experience, continues to be in decline. Where we had, up until recently, good lines of communication into the right people they are now ignoring us because of their performance. We used to be able to get weekly updates on our older cases. This has now stopped as our older cases continue to increase and get older. Whilst I am sure everyone will have seen some reasonable performance on certain digital applications where even we are seeing some grants returned in under 10 days in some circumstances. These are clearly making the overall performance look okay when in fact it is far from this. You presenting this as a headline really is not helpful and I would suggest you talk to some people who are regularly doing a lot of work with the Registries before making such bold statements. We have seen a continual worsening of performance every month for the last 12 at least.
This just proves the old adage that “There are lies, damned lies and statistics”.
I have a client who applied for Probate for his wife’s Estate (which is non-taxable because everything passes to him) on 1st June and he is still waiting. I have many other clients who have also waited considerably longer than the 8 weeks quoted.
Issue times for Digital applications that are not stopped (for god knows what in most cases) have improved dramatically but they are masking that the rest of the system is still failing……. The PR keep stopping applications as they can’t get their head around an ABS structure where the trading name differs from the name on the PBA account (even when we put it both in the application and cover letter….. gone are the professional relationships with your local registry who would recognise and understand the firms regularly making applications) …… but what is the excuse for the delay for paper applications? I sent in a paper application in early July by recorded delivery that I know was delivered the next day…. I received an email acknowledgment on 6th October saying it will be 8 weeks….. WHY?????.