HM Courts and Tribunals Service

4. Ms O complains about aspects of service and treatment she received from HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS). Specifically, she says HMCTS failed to tell her about a hearing held on 24 August 2022. She also complains about the judgement in her case as she does not believe the court took full account of her evidence.

5. She says her health has been impacted and she no longer sees her child. She has said she feels deeply distressed and upset.

6. She is seeking service improvements and a financial remedy (level 5).

7. Ms O was involved in a court case involving her local authority.

8. She complains that HMCTS failed to tell her about a hearing held on 24 August 2022. She also complains about the judgement in her case as she does not believe the court took full account of her evidence.

9. HMCTS responded and said the judge had access to all the relevant information and could not comment on the judicial decision. However, although it referenced the lack of information about the hearing, it does not appear to have responded to it.

Failure to inform of hearing on 24 august 2022

12. Ms O has said that she was not made aware of the hearing dated 24 August 2024.

13. From the information we have seen, it would appear court staff issued all hearing notices to Ms O once they were approved by a judge. Furthermore, it appears the hearing in question was an application for an interim care order (ICO) by the local authority.

14. An ICO is when the local authority asks a judge to urgently make an order because they believe a child might be at risk of them, it does not involve an oral hearing.

15. As such, we have seen no indication that HMCTS has done anything wrong here and have acted in line with our principles of good administration - Acting fairly and propositional.

‘People should be treated fairly and consistently, so that those in similar circumstances are dealt with in a similar way. Any difference in treatment should be justified by the individual circumstances of the case’.

Evidence not being considered

16. Ms O raised concerns that HMCTS failed to present evidence to the judge on her case and therefore vital evidence was not considered.

17. HMCTS has said all documents were available for the hearing and put before the judge.

18. Again, we have seen no evidence to suggest HMCTS failed to provide evidence to the district judge, however, if this was the case we would have expected Ms O to have made the judge aware of this during the court hearing.

19. Secondly, Ms O has said this impacted the outcome of the hearing which means she can no longer see her child. Although, we appreciate how distressing this is for her, we cannot predict a judge’s decision, nor can we criticise it as this is outside of our remit.

20. As such, for the reasons stated above, we see no reason to consider this point any further.

21. There is no doubt the circumstances surrounding the case have been deeply distressing and upsetting and for Ms O, and we hope the situation has improved since bringing the complaint to our office.

1. We have carefully considered Mr O’s complaint about HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). We have no indication that anything went seriously wrong.

2. We found no indication HMCTS failed to inform Ms O of any court hearings or provide the judge with any information.

3. We appreciate the significant impact Ms O has said the issues with the Courts have had on her and are extremely sorry to hear she no longer sees her child. Although, we understand our decision maybe disappointing we hope Ms O’s situation has improved since making he complaint.