Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) was an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and was responsible for the administration of the civil, family and criminal courts in England and Wales .
7-816: It was created by the amalgamation of the Magistrates' Courts Service and the Court Service as a result of the Unified Courts Administration Programme. It came into being on 1 April 2005, bringing together the Magistrates' Courts Service and the Courts Service into a single organisation. On 1 April 2011 it merged with the Tribunals Service to form Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (from 8 September 2022 His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service) . Her Majesty's Courts Service carried out
14-587: A newly created agency. The government's plans came to fruition in April 2006, when the Tribunals Service was created out of the 16 tribunals that were already administered by the Department for Constitutional Affairs , together with a number transferred from other government departments. An example of the latter is the Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal which was supplied with administrative support by
21-674: The Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom between April 2006 and March 2011. The Tribunals Service was responsible for: The Tribunals Service was created in response to Sir Andrew Leggatt 's review of the UK tribunal system, entitled Tribunals for Users: One System, One Service , published in August 2001. Leggatt criticised the then existing system for administrating many tribunals, in particular he observed that some tribunals were not independent of
28-686: The administration and support for the Court of Appeal , the High Court , the Crown Court , the magistrates' courts , the county courts and the Probate Service in England and Wales . When established court services were administered by seven regions responsible for 42 local areas. In 2007 this structure was re-organised by reducing the number of areas to 24. The areas are managed by area directors, responsible for
35-457: The administrative bodies over which they were supposed to exert control; and that there was no uniformity of administration between the many tribunals. The Leggatt report was followed by a white paper in July 2004, entitled Transforming Public Services: Complaints, Redress and Tribunals , which, amongst other recommendations, proposed bringing together a number of tribunals under the administrative of
42-522: The delivery of local services. They work in partnership with courts boards to ensure that the Agency is focussed on its customers and is meeting local needs. The Government White Paper "Justice for all", published in 2002, recommended that a single agency should be developed to support the delivery of justice in all courts in England and Wales , instead of the magistrates' courts and the Court Service being administered separately. The Courts Act 2003 created
49-412: The legal framework required to make the changes. The focus of the programme was to devise a system which would offer improved and consistent services to court users by providing: On 31 March 2005, responsibility for the 42 existing magistrates' courts committees and Court Service passed to Her Majesty’s Courts Service. Tribunals Service The Tribunals Service was an executive agency of
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