There is a "clear and pressing need" to create an online court for claims up to £25,000, without litigants having to incur the "disproportionate cost" of using lawyers. That is one of the provisional conclusions of the interim report of the Civil Court Structure Review for England & Wales, published today.
The review, under Lord Justice Briggs, was commissioned by the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in July 2015 to coincide with a programme for reform of the courts by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, by looking at civil court structures and judicial processes more generally.
It suggests that the online procedure would follow three stages: (1) a largely automated, interactive online process for the identification of the issues and the provision of documentary evidence; (2) conciliation and case management, by case officers; (3) resolution by judges. The court would use documents on screen, telephone, video or face to face meetings to meet the needs of each case.
Other provisional proposals include:
- transferring some of the more routine and non-contentious judicial work to case officers supervised by judges, with the right to have a decision reconsidered by a judge;
- a stronger concentration of civil expertise among circuit judges and district judges, with all civil work with a regional connection being tried in the regions, regardless of value, subject to very limited specialist exceptions;
- a possible raising of the thresholds for permission to appeal, and more use of two-judge appeal courts; and
- integration of the employment tribunal and employment appeal tribunal into the structure of the civil courts.
Written responses are invited until the end of February. A larger, more formal process of consultation will be completed by the end of May, and Lord Justice Briggs intends to complete the review by the end of July 2016.
