18 probate offices have now closed as sub-registry requests increasingly migrate to a central national courts and tribunals service.
The Government’s £1 billion court reforms and modernisation will now see sub-registries in Bodmin, Caernarvon, Carmarthen, Chester, Carlisle, Exeter, Gloucester, Leicester, Lincoln, Maidstone, Middlesbrough, Norwich, Nottingham, Peterborough and York all close with immediate effect.
Having started to recover from significant probate delays in the second half of 2019, HMCTS has assured users that the closures will not impact ‘the time it takes to obtain grants of probate.’
To ensure this smooth transition, no further sub-registries will close until after April 2020.
Susan Acland-Hood, Chief Executive of HM Courts & Tribunals Service, commented:
“There will be no redundancies at this stage as we are working with members of staff to find other positions in HMCTS and the wider civil service.
“Many of these locations haven’t been staffed for a number of years and were open on a part time and sometimes ad-hoc basis using staff from other registries.
“As the probate reform project progresses, and more probate work is moved to the service centres, there will be a managed programme to close further registries, but this will only happen when we are confident closures will not adversely impact the time it takes for users to obtain grants of probate.
“There will be no further closures before April 2020, and we will let you know about other closures as they are confirmed.”
Are you concerned with this transitional change? Are you still experiencing delays to grants of probate?
One Response
Could the reason for the stop in closing sub-registries be because there are none left – our list hasn’t included any since November 2019