An IT bug causes “technical issues” within the courts running in the body England And Wales A former Lord Chancellor has stated that “incredibly severe” and can be compared to the post office horizon scandal.
BBC It is reported that HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) was taken for several years to react to the bug, due to which the evidence has been missing, overwritten, or lost lost, resulting in citizens, family and tribunal courts in cases when evidence was probably upset.
HMCT stated that there is no evidence to suggest the results of any case to be affected as a result of issues.
The BBC stated that the bug was found in the Case-Management Software used by HMCT and Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal, which is most affected.
Referred to the judicial case manager, Myhmcts or CCD, BBC stated that software is used to manage evidence and track matters, and is used by judges, lawyers, case workers and public members.
The documents viewed by the BBC show that the bug has unclear from looking at the data, which means some evidence sometimes did not appear as part of the case files used in the court.
The BBC said that a leaked internal report states that HMCT does not know the full limit of data corruption, including whether it affected cases.
Alex chalkFormer Lord Chancellor and former Justice Secretary, said that what has happened is “incredibly severe” and may include cases that determine whether a child is taken in care.
“So incredibly severe. And, therefore, the whistle blower indicates, it may probably come in other tribunals, even if it behaves divorce and so on.
“And what is upset so much is that this report is obviously at the desk of the senior leadership of HMCT in March 2024 when I was in the office, and it was never brought to my attention.
“And I am incredibly disturbed by this, as any Lord Chancellor of any stripe, if he comes to know that there is a potentially a situation in the courts that are leading to injustice, you will want to check it immediately, and yet the covered under the influence and I am afraid that it is very serious,” Shri Chak described the program of BBC Radio 4.
The BBC said that many sources within HMCT have compared the situation to the horizon post office scam.
Mr. Chalk was asked on the program of Radio 4 Today, what has been, the post office scandal can be compared, and he said: “This could happen.”
A spokesman for HMCT said: “Our internal investigation found no evidence that any case was affected as a result of these technical issues.
“The digitization of our system is important in the modern era to bring courts and tribunals and to provide fast, simple access to justice for those using our services.
“We will continue to move forward with our important modernization.”
It is understood that while some documents as a result of the bug were not accessible to users on the digital platform, they were actually always present on the system.
It is also understood that due to many “failure-safs”, parties and judges involved in these cases always had access to documents they needed.
