Professional User Communication with the Courts – We Need Your Experience

Dear Colleagues,

The IBC is launching a profession-wide review into how Bar clerks communicate with the Magistrates’, County and Family Courts, and we’d be grateful for your support.

Over many years, Bar clerks have worked alongside court staff to keep hearings running efficiently. Increasingly, however, many clerks are finding that communicating urgent operational information to the courts has become more difficult following the introduction of the HMCTS Contact Centre model.

This questionnaire is designed to gather both quantitative data and qualitative evidence so that we can establish whether this is an isolated frustration or a wider operational issue affecting chambers across England and Wales.

This is not about criticising HMCTS or the Contact Centre staff. Our aim is to gather evidence and work constructively with HMCTS to explore whether there is a better communication model for professional users dealing with urgent operational matters.

If every Bar clerk contributes just one example, we will quickly build a compelling body of evidence.

Please take five minutes to complete the questionnaire and share it with your colleagues, whether they are IBC members or not. This is about strength in numbers and ensuring the experiences of the profession are properly represented.

Thank you for your support.