As of April 2012, all Civil and Family Courts will be changing the opening times of the court desks. They will be open only between 11 am and 1 pm.

According to HMCTS:

Court users attending the public counter with routine work that does not require a face to face service provision will be directed to a “drop box” or to the secure court postbox. Work that is considered will fall into this category include:

  • -Making a payment
  • -Case specific enquiries
  • -General enquiries
  • -Lodging documents
  • -Issuing money claims or other civil applications
  • -Issuing divorce proceedings
  • -Issuing public or private law proceedings
  • -Issuing enforcement proceedings
  • -Collecting forms / orders

HMCTS further state that

These arrangements will not affect the courts’ ability to deal throughout the working day with any matters which should be dealt with immediately e.g. injunction applications. We would encourage you to continue to contact the court via e-mail or fax to alert us to any urgent matters so that we can then make the appropriate arrangements.

Urgent applications are defined as an application or document which needs to be issued or seen by a member of the judiciary within 24 hours

It is not clear yet what the arrangments for urgent matters will be. We understand that courts are considering this on an individual basis.

HLPA is concerned by this move, which seems likely to have a particular impact on vulnerable tenants seeking to make urgent applications in person, for stay of eviction or for an injunction in unlawful eviction cases. HLPA members are urged to respond to any local consultations (for the London Region see below) and to seek clarification on arrangments for urgent matters from Court User groups.

As a further detail, Willesden County Court is dealing with urgent matters on an appointment only basis, so we are told people should phone or email for an appointment time, assuming that there are any available.

There is a consultation form for Court users in the London region. The letter and form can be downloaded here [doc]. The consultation ends 2 March 2012, so an urgent reponse needed.