HMCTS Digital Support Service: Implementation Review
Good Things Foundation has been commissioned to co-design and pilot face-to-face digital support in HMCTS' £1bn reform programme, redesigning the way courts and tribunals services are provided.
Key findings
782 DS appointments attended since the start of the pilot
695 online forms have submitted in face-to-face DS appointments
56 minutes average length of a face-to-face DS appointment
Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is undergoing a £1bn reform programme and is redesigning the way courts and tribunals services are provided.
The reform programme aims to ‘bring new technology and modern ways of working to the way justice is administered’. A large part of this programme is moving services online. However, HMCTS recognises that not everyone who needs to use the courts and tribunals will want to access digital services, and that others may need some help and support to do so. To support people in this position, HMCTS is improving its non-digital channels and piloting a Digital Support (DS) service.
The HMCTS DS service is available over the phone and face-to-face. The telephone DS service is being piloted by HMCTS and is delivered through Courts and Tribunals Service Centre (CTSC). Good Things Foundation has been commissioned to co-design and pilot the face-to-face DS service. The focus of this report is to describe the findings of an implementation review of the face-to-face DS service (between September 2017 and August 2020).