Frontier Economics and IFF Research have evaluated the impact of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service’s (HMCTS) digital reform programme across civil, family and tribunal services.

The HMCTS Reform programme aimed to bring modern technology and new ways of working to the courts and tribunals system to better ensure it is just, proportionate, and accessible. The digitalisation of services aimed to enable public users and legal professionals to start and manage cases digitally, using centralised and automated processes. This was intended to reduce time, effort, and cost, leading to improved access to justice.

Using a combination of surveys, interviews and management data, the evaluation assessed uptake, user experiences and outcomes.

Key findings include:

• Faster processing: Reductions in case duration, which the reform contributed to
• High uptake among professionals: Especially where the digital option was mandated. Public users were generally positive.
• Barriers remain for some groups: Including users with limited English or from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• Partial digitisation might lead to inefficiencies: Fully digital journeys delivered the clearest benefits.

Overall, the reforms are delivering improvements and consistent design, support and inclusivity will be key to future progress.

This study contributes to a wider evaluation of the Reform programme being undertaken by the MoJ and HMCTS.

Click here to read the full report: HMCTS Reform Digital 
Services Evaluation