Latest news with #JudicialCaseManager
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Court service accused of IT bug 'cover up' after malfunction made evidence go missing
A body that runs courts in England and Wales has been accused of an IT bug 'cover up' after a malfunction caused evidence to go missing, be overwritten or appear lost. An internal report leaked to the BBC found the body took several years to react to the malfunction. The bug was part of a case-management software used by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) agency that administers courts in England and Wales and tribunals throughout the UK. The software is used to track cases and manage evidence before courts and is used by judges, lawyers, case workers and members of the public - it is known as Judicial Case Manager, MyHMCTS or CCD. Sources within HMCTS say the bug led to judges in civil, family and tribunal courts making rulings on cases where evidence was incomplete. It also found that HMCTS management decided not to inform judges and lawyers because it would be 'more likely to cause more harm than good'. The bug also caused data to be obscured from view, meaning contact details, medical records and other evidence were at times not visible when case files were used in court. It is thought that the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal has been the most affected. HMCTS says its internal investigation found no evidence that 'any case outcomes were affected as a result of these technical issues'. The former head of the High Court's family division, Sir James Munby, told the BBC: 'These hearings often decide the fate of people's lives. 'An error could mean the difference between a child being removed from an unsafe environment or a vulnerable person missing out on benefits.' Allegedly several sources within the HMCTS likened the situation to the Horizon Post Office scandal, with one person telling the BBC that there is a 'culture of cover-ups'. The risk to proceedings of the bug was initially categorised as 'high' but an initial manual investigation by a team within HMCTS only reviewed a subset of the most recent three months' worth of cases heard by the SSCS Tribunal. Only 17 per cent of cases identified as having potential issues were selected for further investigation and it was decided that the risk to all cases was low. However, leaked documents revealed that an HMCTS employee was so concerned by the situation they complained, which led to further internal investigation. This later report, led by a senior IT professional from the Prison Service was internally distributed in November 2024 and eventually leaked to the BBC. It found 'large scale' data breached that should have been addressed 'as soon as they were known'. Investigators concluded that because HMCTS had not undertaken a comprehensive investigation, the full extent of data corruption was still unknown This included if case outcomes had been affected. The report also said that data loss incidents continue to be raised against the IT system used by the civil, family and tribunal courts. In a statement, an HMCTS spokesperson told the BBC that 'parties and judges involved in these cases always had access to the documents they needed'.
Spectator
3 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
You were never meant to know about the court service IT bug
Another day, another scandal in Britain's collapsing public sector. Today's concerns the country's courts. A BBC investigation has turned up an internal report, not for public circulation, from HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) about an IT bug that deleted or hid information on hundreds of pending cases. The problem itself was bad enough: Britain's state IT capacity is very poor, worse than many comparable nations. Things get deleted or disappear; vital information is stolen or hacked. The administrators of these systems are so often simply not up to it. But how this disaster was handled appears to be even worse. This particular software error, found in 'case-management software' variously called Judicial Case Manager, MyHMCTS or CCD, according to the BBC, meant that some data was not visible – including medial information, contact details and evidence at issue – in case files used in court. The report seen by the BBC said that the tribunal dealing with child support and benefits appears to have been the most affected. But the problem went further, including the family courts, employment tribunals, civil claims and probate – essentially most of the legal system to do with the trials of ordinary life. This is all scandalous and dreadful enough. It's not surprising, because the gears of state always stick and scream and things in the public sector are rarely done efficiently and well. But there's one thing that's even more damaging than the routine ineptitude of the state: all of this appears to have been hidden from view until the BBC happened to get its hands on secret internal documents. You were never meant to hear about any of this. The IT problem itself was concealed; the lawyers and judges who likely lost access to vital information – who argued and decided cases on incomplete information – were never told about it. The people whose cases were affected were not informed. Even the eventual report assessing the damages of this error was also concealed. This is the dire nature of justice and life in Britain. The software was in use for years, sources within the HMCTS told the BBC, but if objections to its problems were ever raised, they were ignored. The internal report seen by the BBC said that data problems were discussed from 2019 onwards and definitively discovered in 2023. Higher-ups just didn't want to know, let alone to fix things. And when the problems grew so large as to be unignorable, the whole thing was hidden from the public and from everyone remotely affected. Internal emails seen by the BBC seemed more interested in the 'severe reputational impact to HMCTS' than anything else. This is what the British state looks like; this is how it operates. It's a culture of ineptitude with the bureaucracy protecting itself against all transparency, against every attempt to hold the system and its people to account. The primary purpose of the British state is waging a continual campaign to conceal from the public how badly we are governed. How many more stories like this one are there? There's no way for you to know – they've all been well covered up.
Leader Live
3 days ago
- Politics
- Leader Live
‘Troubling' courts service IT bug ‘extremely serious'
The BBC has reported that it took HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) several years to react to the bug, which is said to have caused evidence to go missing, be overwritten or appear lost, resulting in judges in civil, family and tribunal courts making rulings on cases when evidence was potentially incomplete. HMCTS said there is no evidence to suggest any case outcomes were affected as a result of the issues. The bug was found in case-management software used by HMCTS and the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal, which handles benefit appeals, is thought to have been most affected, the BBC said. Referred to as Judicial Case Manager, MyHMCTS or CCD, the BBC said the software is used to manage evidence and track cases, and is used by judges, lawyers, case workers and members of the public. Documents seen by the BBC show the bug caused data to be obscured from view, meaning some evidence was sometimes not visible as part of case files used in court. The BBC said a leaked internal report said HMCTS did not know the full extent of the data corruption, including whether or how it had affected cases. Alex Chalk, former lord chancellor and former justice secretary, said what has happened is 'incredibly serious' and could have involved cases which determine whether a child is taken into care. 'So unbelievably serious. And, so the whistle blowers indicate, it could potentially have bled into other tribunals as well, whether it deals with divorce and so on. 'And the thing that is so troubling is that this report evidently got on to the desk of the senior leadership of HMCTS in March 2024 when I was in office, and it was never brought to my attention. 'And I am incredibly troubled by that, because any lord chancellor, of any stripe, if they discover that there's potentially a situation in the courts which is leading to injustice, then you will immediately want to investigate that, and yet in effect that was covered up and I'm afraid I think that is extremely serious,' Mr Chalk told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The BBC said several sources within HMCTS have likened the situation to the Horizon Post Office scandal. Mr Chalk was asked on the Radio 4 Today programme if what has happened could be compared to the Post Office scandal, and he said: 'It could be.' An HMCTS spokesperson said: 'Our internal investigation found no evidence that any case outcomes were affected as a result of these technical issues. 'The digitisation of our systems is vital to bring courts and tribunals into the modern era and provide quicker, simpler access to justice for all those who use our services. 'We will continue to press ahead with our important modernisation.' It is understood that while the bug resulted in some documents not being accessible to users on the digital platform, they were in fact always present on the system. It is also understood that because of a number of 'fail-safes', parties and judges involved in these cases always had access to the documents they needed.
North Wales Chronicle
3 days ago
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
‘Troubling' courts service IT bug ‘extremely serious'
The BBC has reported that it took HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) several years to react to the bug, which is said to have caused evidence to go missing, be overwritten or appear lost, resulting in judges in civil, family and tribunal courts making rulings on cases when evidence was potentially incomplete. HMCTS said there is no evidence to suggest any case outcomes were affected as a result of the issues. The bug was found in case-management software used by HMCTS and the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal, which handles benefit appeals, is thought to have been most affected, the BBC said. Referred to as Judicial Case Manager, MyHMCTS or CCD, the BBC said the software is used to manage evidence and track cases, and is used by judges, lawyers, case workers and members of the public. Documents seen by the BBC show the bug caused data to be obscured from view, meaning some evidence was sometimes not visible as part of case files used in court. The BBC said a leaked internal report said HMCTS did not know the full extent of the data corruption, including whether or how it had affected cases. Alex Chalk, former lord chancellor and former justice secretary, said what has happened is 'incredibly serious' and could have involved cases which determine whether a child is taken into care. 'So unbelievably serious. And, so the whistle blowers indicate, it could potentially have bled into other tribunals as well, whether it deals with divorce and so on. 'And the thing that is so troubling is that this report evidently got on to the desk of the senior leadership of HMCTS in March 2024 when I was in office, and it was never brought to my attention. 'And I am incredibly troubled by that, because any lord chancellor, of any stripe, if they discover that there's potentially a situation in the courts which is leading to injustice, then you will immediately want to investigate that, and yet in effect that was covered up and I'm afraid I think that is extremely serious,' Mr Chalk told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The BBC said several sources within HMCTS have likened the situation to the Horizon Post Office scandal. Mr Chalk was asked on the Radio 4 Today programme if what has happened could be compared to the Post Office scandal, and he said: 'It could be.' An HMCTS spokesperson said: 'Our internal investigation found no evidence that any case outcomes were affected as a result of these technical issues. 'The digitisation of our systems is vital to bring courts and tribunals into the modern era and provide quicker, simpler access to justice for all those who use our services. 'We will continue to press ahead with our important modernisation.' It is understood that while the bug resulted in some documents not being accessible to users on the digital platform, they were in fact always present on the system. It is also understood that because of a number of 'fail-safes', parties and judges involved in these cases always had access to the documents they needed.
Rhyl Journal
3 days ago
- Politics
- Rhyl Journal
‘Troubling' courts service IT bug ‘extremely serious'
The BBC has reported that it took HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) several years to react to the bug, which is said to have caused evidence to go missing, be overwritten or appear lost, resulting in judges in civil, family and tribunal courts making rulings on cases when evidence was potentially incomplete. HMCTS said there is no evidence to suggest any case outcomes were affected as a result of the issues. The bug was found in case-management software used by HMCTS and the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal, which handles benefit appeals, is thought to have been most affected, the BBC said. Referred to as Judicial Case Manager, MyHMCTS or CCD, the BBC said the software is used to manage evidence and track cases, and is used by judges, lawyers, case workers and members of the public. Documents seen by the BBC show the bug caused data to be obscured from view, meaning some evidence was sometimes not visible as part of case files used in court. The BBC said a leaked internal report said HMCTS did not know the full extent of the data corruption, including whether or how it had affected cases. Alex Chalk, former lord chancellor and former justice secretary, said what has happened is 'incredibly serious' and could have involved cases which determine whether a child is taken into care. 'So unbelievably serious. And, so the whistle blowers indicate, it could potentially have bled into other tribunals as well, whether it deals with divorce and so on. 'And the thing that is so troubling is that this report evidently got on to the desk of the senior leadership of HMCTS in March 2024 when I was in office, and it was never brought to my attention. 'And I am incredibly troubled by that, because any lord chancellor, of any stripe, if they discover that there's potentially a situation in the courts which is leading to injustice, then you will immediately want to investigate that, and yet in effect that was covered up and I'm afraid I think that is extremely serious,' Mr Chalk told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The BBC said several sources within HMCTS have likened the situation to the Horizon Post Office scandal. Mr Chalk was asked on the Radio 4 Today programme if what has happened could be compared to the Post Office scandal, and he said: 'It could be.' An HMCTS spokesperson said: 'Our internal investigation found no evidence that any case outcomes were affected as a result of these technical issues. 'The digitisation of our systems is vital to bring courts and tribunals into the modern era and provide quicker, simpler access to justice for all those who use our services. 'We will continue to press ahead with our important modernisation.' It is understood that while the bug resulted in some documents not being accessible to users on the digital platform, they were in fact always present on the system. It is also understood that because of a number of 'fail-safes', parties and judges involved in these cases always had access to the documents they needed.
