Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that probate application delays have on the number of empty homes.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
HM Courts & Tribunals service (HMCTS) has not collected data to assess the impact that probate application delays have on the number of empty homes.
However, HMCTS has invested in additional staff and made system and process improvements to reduce waiting times and progress is being made to reduce delays. Official statistics published by the Ministry of Justice show, despite continued high levels of receipts, average waiting times are improving and was 7 weeks, from receipt of the documentation needed, for grants issued during July to September 2024. Management Information published by HMCTS, which undergoes fewer quality checks than Ministry of Justice Official Statistics, shows average waiting times currently stand at 4 weeks, from receipt of the documentation needed to grant issue, for cases completing in December 2024. This in turn is likely to have had a positive impact on the time that housing remains empty. Individual cases may take longer due to a variety of reasons such as family disputes or lack of information, leaving homes empty for extended periods.
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via the Family Court Statistics (Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK) and HMCTS Management Information (HMCTS management information - GOV.UK).
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target timeframe is for completing investigations into estates of deceased individuals where benefits may need to be recovered following the grant of probate; and what measures are in place to prevent prolonged delays.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no target timeframe for completing investigations into estates of deceased individuals, some cases are more complex than others and take time to conclude. The Recovery from Estates (RFE) team within Debt Management contacts executors to provide historic financial information in order to carry out posthumous reviews of benefit entitlement. This often takes time to progress, which can extend the customer journey.
There has been an increase in the number of DWP RFE cases which has impacted on the length of time to respond to customers. More staff have been trained to deal with the increase in cases and delays to customer responses are being reduced. We are also reviewing our current processes to identify any further improvements to continue to reduce the time to process RFE cases.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help tackle delays in the granting of probate.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in additional staff and made system and process improvements to reduce waiting times. Management Information published by HMCTS shows, despite continued high levels of receipts, average waiting times are improving and currently stand at 5 weeks, from receipt of the documentation needed, for November 2024.
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via the Family Court Statistics (Family Court Statistics Quarterly - GOV.UK.) and HMCTS Management Information (HMCTS management information - GOV.UK)
Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the backlog of cases within the probate service.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service has invested in more staff, alongside system and process improvements, which has seen record levels of grants of probate issued during the last 6 months.
Management Information published by HMCTS shows, despite continued high levels of receipts, the open workable caseload (cases not waiting for more information from the applicant) has reduced by over 50% (36,000 cases) since August 2023 and currently stands at 31,842 in June 2024.
The average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate (following receipt of the documents required) has reduced by 4.5 weeks in June 2024 compared to August 2023. The average timeliness for cases completing in June was 8.5 weeks.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) staffing levels and (b) staff training on the time taken to process probate applications in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer
HM Courts & Tribunals Service recruited 100 full time equivalent (FTE) staff between June 2022 and June 2023 for the probate service. HMCTS are now holding staffing levels at around 280 FTE compared to 153 FTE in March 2020. This is to maintain the increased volume of grants being issued and providing capacity for a rolling training programme to build the capability of the workforce.
More recent Management Information published by HMCTS shows the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate (following receipt of the documents required) reduced by 3 weeks in March 2024 compared to February 2024. The average timeliness for cases completing in March was 9 weeks.
Official statistics show that the average time (median) from application submission to grant issue for all grant types was 11.0 weeks in 2023 (mean average time was 13.9 weeks). From the document receipt to grant issue the median average time was 8.7 weeks (mean average time 12.0).
Despite the probate service receiving record levels of applications during 2023 the open workable caseload (cases not waiting for more information from the applicant) has reduced by 30,500 cases since August 2023 and currently stands at 37,406 in March 2024.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
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.
Answered by Mike Freer
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.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of HM Courts and Tribunals Service's (a) performance on probate issues and (b) speed at processing probate applications.
Answered by Mike Freer
The probate service received record levels of applications during 2022 and this has continued to grow with higher levels of receipts during January to June 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
HMCTS has streamlined internal processes to cut down on administrative delay and reduce processing times. We are continuing to invest in improving digital systems and online filing capabilities so users can track progress more easily.
HMCTS has increased staffing levels in Probate over the past year to help process applications faster. The training and upskilling of those new and existing staff have led to applications taking longer in the short term.
HMCTS are focused on increasing outputs to reduce overall timeliness on all types of applications and the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, following receipt of the documents required, is 13 weeks during April to June 2023.
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly and currently cover the period up to June 2023.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help reduce waiting times for grant of probate.
Answered by Mike Freer
The probate service received record levels of applications during 2022 and this has continued to grow with higher levels of receipts during January to June 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
HMCTS has significantly increased staffing levels in Probate over the past year to help process applications faster. The training and upskilling of those new and existing staff have led to applications taking longer in the short term.
HMCTS have streamlined internal processes to cut down on administrative delay and reduce processing times. We are continuing to invest in improving digital systems and online filing capabilities so users can track progress more easily.
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly and currently cover the period up to June 2023.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints he has received about the performance of the probate service in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mike Freer
The attached table shows the number of complaints about the performance of the probate service in each of the last five years.
HMCTS has significantly increased staffing levels in Probate over the past year to help process applications faster. The training and upskilling of those new and existing staff have led to applications taking longer in the short term.
HMCTS have streamlined internal processes to cut down on administrative delay and reduce processing times. We are continuing to invest in improving digital systems and online filing capabilities so users can track progress more easily.
HMCTS does not collate the management information on how many errors by the probate service caused delays to the processing of applications.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times errors by the probate service caused delays to the processing of applications in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mike Freer
The attached table shows the number of complaints about the performance of the probate service in each of the last five years.
HMCTS has significantly increased staffing levels in Probate over the past year to help process applications faster. The training and upskilling of those new and existing staff have led to applications taking longer in the short term.
HMCTS have streamlined internal processes to cut down on administrative delay and reduce processing times. We are continuing to invest in improving digital systems and online filing capabilities so users can track progress more easily.
HMCTS does not collate the management information on how many errors by the probate service caused delays to the processing of applications.