Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average holding time was for phone calls to the probate office contact line in each year since 2019.

The average holding time (Average Speed of Answer (ASA)) for phone calls to the Probate office contact line in each year since 2019 is as follows:

2021 = 17 minutes 28 seconds

2022 = 33 minutes 23 seconds

2023 = 12 minutes 17 seconds

HMCTS does not hold ASA data prior to 2021 due to a change in system in Spring 2021.

HMCTS has recruited over 100 additional staff, between June 2022 and June 2023, to improve both telephone response times and increase the overall volume and speed of grants being issued.

In addition, HMCTS have undertaken additional staff training to ensure probate call agents can resolve more queries at the first time of contact and issue the grant wherever possible.