Professional operational support ‘essential’ to administration of justice in NI’s courts

The report by Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) looked at the administrative processes, systems and services provided by the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) supporting the progression and disposal of criminal cases and judicial decision making across Northern Ireland.

“The provision of professional administrative and operational support is essential to the administration of justice and supporting an independent Judiciary in the criminal courts,” said Jacqui Durkin, Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland.

“The court stages of a criminal investigation, prosecution and defence require quality services from NICTS staff before, during and after court hearings including the accurate and prompt recording of Judicial decisions, sentences and orders. It is vital that the administrative services they provide have the confidence of everyone involved including victims, witnesses and defendants as well as the wider public.

“NICTS staff are involved in the administration of more than one million results across the criminal courts each year that can range from an adjournment to prison sentences and public protection orders. Getting this right is essential because getting it wrong can have dire consequences.”

She added: “Inspectors identified that performance management and quality assurance processes required significant improvement. Between 2020 and 2023, 4,810 court orders required amendment and 4,563 were deleted largely due to staff error. More than 50 per cent of these errors were discovered and brought to the NICTS’s attention by external sources.

“While these figures represented less than 0.5 per cent of the total orders issued each year, the impact of mistakes can incur additional costs, delay payments, mean someone is held in custody longer than they should be, or could compromise the effective management of risk presented by an offender to protect public safety.”

Ms Durkin has recommended that within one month the NICTS should review its quality assurance processes for the service of court orders to secure improvement.

“Inspectors have also recommended that existing processes for making data changes requests to amend or delete court orders should be reviewed inside the next six months and compliance monitored to secure further improvements,” said the Chief Inspector.

Inspectors also identified that the NICTS’s ability to recruit staff, especially court clerks was taking too long and placing pressure on the organisation. In October 2023, 15 per cent of posts were vacant, with vacancies being filled through a combination of temporary promotion and temporary contract agency staff.

“Temporarily promoted staff made up 35 per cent of court clerks at the time of inspection fieldwork. This was creating instability within the organisation and negatively impacting staff morale, especially when staff invested time in training agency staff members filling administrative vacancies only for their experience and skills to be lost when they left,” said Ms Durkin.

“I welcome the work the NICTS has undertaken with the Northern Ireland Civil Service to recognise the important and specific role court clerks have in supporting the administration of justice and the current recruitment scheme to develop a long-term solution to address this staffing risk.

“I have recommended that a Workforce Strategy that sets out the staff required to effectively administer courts and support the judiciary is put in place to inform a sustainable skilled workforce.”

Inspectors also found that training provided and guidance available to staff within the organisation to undertake their roles required improvement.

“Inspectors identified the consistency of training, especially for those providing operational roles in regional courthouses, needed improvement to increase the confidence and competence of staff to undertake their roles,” said Ms Durkin.

“It is encouraging that the NICTS has already taken steps to identify gaps, improve the level of training provided to staff and develop best practice guidance for court clerks. To further support this we have recommended that within the next six months, the NICTS should develop and deliver a new Knowledge Bank online resource for staff that will include induction and training and development information and support the digital modernisation of the organisation.

“This inspection recognises that NICTS staff have worked to provide support to all Crown, magistrates’ and youth courts across Northern Ireland despite the business challenges it has faced. During 2022/23 their efforts meant that 15 per cent more Crown Court cases and five per cent more magistrates’ court cases were processed than the number of cases they received.

“We also recognise the agile approach of the NICTS and the significant progress and value it achieved by its use of technology which maintained court operations and access to justice during the Covid-19 pandemic through remote and hybrid court hearings.

“The NICTS’s Vision 2030 programme is an ambitious and exciting opportunity for the organisation to transform how it provides services in our criminal courts. While technology will play an important part, key to this will be a skilled and engaged workforce that values the important work they do and is valued by all who they serve.”

The Chief Inspector concluded: “The two strategic and seven operational recommendations for improvement included in this inspection report aim to support the NICTS as it goes from strength to strength to meet future challenges and transformation head on.”