Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what compensation will be made available to (a) court users and (b) legal professionals as a result of the disruption caused by the recent IT failures in the courts system.

The recent disruption to IT systems intermittently affected HMCTS Court and Tribunal sites across England and Wales and the Scottish Tribunals. On 25 January 2019 connectivity had been restored across the Ministry of Justice estate. Due to the hard work and efforts of HMCTS staff the impact on cases and court and tribunals users was limited and only a very small proportion of cases suffered disruption. Hearings continued to progress in our courts, though we appreciate the extra burden placed on court users, and the issues did not lead to detaining defendants or freeing criminals unlawfully.

We know how frustrating this was for our staff and users and again we apologise. All compensation claims are considered on their own merits, therefore it is not possible to confirm what compensation will be available.