Recommendation 15

HMCTS’s reforms are wide-ranging and have the potential to impact access to justice for a range of users, including vulnerable people. In both 2018 and 2019, we raised concerns that HMCTS had not sufficiently demonstrated that it understood how reforms would impact access to the justice system or the people using it, and that it had not adequately considered how reforms already introduced, such as court closures, had impacted access to the justice system, particularly for vulnerable users. In our 2019 report we recommended 21 Qq 66–68 22 Qq 29 23 Qq 29, 65 24 Qq 27–29, 56–57, 65, 108; C&AG’s Report, paras 2.20–2.21 25 CPR0003 The Law Society submission, 30 March 2023, para 5 26 Qq 27, 63–65, 110 27 Qq 27, 32–34 28 Qq 63, 67–69, 108; C&AG’s Report, para 2.21 Progress on the courts and tribunals reform programme 13 that HMCTS should set out what it would do to make sure that the needs of vulnerable users are considered in future closure decisions and to put in place measures to compensate for any apparent access difficulties, such as providing taxi vouchers in advance.29 In its Treasury Minute response, HMCTS agreed to write to us in June 2020 with additional details on how the needs of vulnerable users were considered and what future measures would be put in place to ensure that HMCTS can identify the most appropriate measures to enable access to justice.30