Administration of Justice: Disability
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps HM Courts and Tribunals Service takes to ensure that reasonable adjustments and communication preferences are identified, recorded and adhered to throughout court and tribunal proceedings involving disabled and vulnerable users.
Answered by Ministry of Justice
HMCTS has a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to ensure all our users are treated with dignity and that we do not discriminate against people with protected characteristics. HMCTS will provide reasonable adjustments for court and tribunal users with disabilities.
We encourage court and tribunal users to contact us before a hearing to discuss any adjustments they may need. HMCTS staff should sensitively ask those needing reasonable adjustments what support they require in order to be able to provide such adjustments.
Information about how we provide reasonable adjustments is available on GOV.UK.
Users may ask for HMCTS leaflets, blank forms, and any documents relating to their case in an alternative format that meets their specific accessibility needs such as, Braille, audio, large print, Easy Read and other alternate formats.
Where a party to proceedings is identified as having additional communication needs, they or their legal representative may request the support of an intermediary. Intermediaries assess and advise on the specific communication requirements of a person and recommend reasonable adjustments to enable their participation in hearings.
We also have mandatory reasonable adjustments teaching for staff to help them understand what reasonable adjustments are and how they should be put in place to support disabled court and tribunal users.
Requests for reasonable adjustments may be recorded on our case management system which helps staff manage requests and track reasonable adjustments which have been provided.
HMCTS is improving how reasonable adjustments are requested and managed within digital services in the Civil, Family and Tribunals jurisdictions. This includes proactively asking service users for their support needs within their journey, and improvements to case management systems to make it easier for staff to manage and deliver the adjustments.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →