Magistrates’ court workforce to enter nine-day strike period
updated on 07 September 2022
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Staff at the magistrates’ court are set to begin a nine-day strike from the 10th to the 18th of September, adding to existing disruption in the UK’s criminal justice system.
The strike is taking place in response to the rollout of the HM Courts & Tribunals Service’s (HMCTS) Common Platform, which has been described as “fundamentally flawed” by trade union officials.
The strike involves members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union and will see court staff take industrial action over the government’s £1 billion courts digitisation strategy. An overwhelming 93% of PCS members voted in favour of a full strike.
The HMCTS’ Common Platform allows all parties, including court staff, solicitors, barristers, the Crown Prosecution Service, and members of the judiciary to access case information. It’s already managed more than 158,000 criminal cases and is now live in 143 courts, with further rollouts planned up until February 2023. By March 2021, the project had cost £236 million and HMCTS argued that it’s “key to modernising the court system”.
The PCS union has stated that this month's strike action is in response to HMCTS having behaved "disgracefully" by failing to approach the union to offer a meeting, "continuing to gaslight members over phase 2’s ‘success’” and saying it wouldn’t pay members who refused to use the platform.
An HMCTS spokesperson commented: “This is a disappointing outcome as we have been working with staff and unions on the rollout of Common Platform since September 2020 and it has already dealt with over 158,000 criminal cases. The Common Platform is key to modernising the court system, making it more efficient and fit for purpose.”
The union has also revealed that a second group of its members working for HMCTS are to be balloted from next week as a result of the decision to “continue the national roll-out of the Common Platform after months of inaction by HMCTS to resolve the serious and fundamental concerns raised by PCS”.
