Liverpool Law Society’s General Committee comprises 27 lawyers from a wide range of legal practice. One objective for Committee members is to identify issues affecting their respective practice area. This is particularly the case where an issue might have impacted a lawyer’s ability to act in the best interests of their client or to ensure the effective administration of justice.
Court backlogs have long since been on the agenda of the Society’s Civil Litigation Committee. The centralisation of court telephony has now become a prominent sub-issue.
On 8th April 2025, Operations Director for HMCTS Daniel Flury appeared before the Justice Committee with Sarah Sackman KC and commented:
‘I am hoping the court users will recognise this one day: we are seeing, post-centralisation, a vast improvement in our telephones, from call waiting times to abandonment rates.’
This statement appears inconsistent with the lived reality of our members. Feedback to the Society suggests that problems are manifesting themselves in several ways, including:
- The inability to connecting to an advisor within a reasonable time frame is driving additional time and costs. This additional cost comes under scrutiny and is often unrecovered.
- Advisors have not received the requisite training, or do not have information necessary to resolve a user’s query, meaning repeat calls are necessary.
- Litigants in Person increasingly struggle to have their queries resolved first-time.
What we need?
Liverpool Law Society intends to lobby on the issue of centralisation of Court telephony. This is with a view to improving court services for the benefit of our members.
The Society requires qualitative evidence to enable it to effectively lobby. We are seeking details of your experience when dealing with the Court post-centralisation. We wish to understand the quality of the service you received and any flow-through issues it may have caused.
Examples can be sent in the strictest of confidence to: committees@liverpoollawsociety.org.uk
We would appreciate submissions before 5.00pm on Monday, 16 June 2025.