700,000 benefit cases to be checked for errors after IT bug
Nearly 700,000 settled legal cases relating to benefits and alimony are being reassessed after an IT error may have led to the loss of crucial evidence, a government minister has confirmed.
In August, it was revealed that a technical issue with HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) databases could result in documents being lost or overwritten. A leaked report to the BBC showed that the service was aware of the data corruption but did not know the full extent of it and did not carry out a full investigation.
An HMCTS source said there was a “culture of cover-up” in the service after the document revealed management had decided not to mention the matter to lawyers or judges.
The leak also revealed that HMCTS had launched an internal investigation and found “large-scale” data breaches, which needed to be dealt with “as soon as they became known”. However, it is also stated that despite the warnings made by technical staff since 2019, it took several years for the service to react.
It appears that the sector most affected by the problem is Social Security and Child Support (SSCS). The court considers objections to social benefits and child support.
Following the disclosures, HMCTS reviewed a sample of 455 potentially affected cases and found one case where a missing document may have affected the case outcome, as confirmed by the judge.
Justice minister Sarah Sackman said the parties involved in the case had been contacted and given the opportunity to request that the decision be annulled and the case retried.
The Labor MP also confirmed that around 700,000 cases covering the entire affected period will now be checked. If a similar rate of affected cases were found in the sample, this would be approximately 1,500 affected cases.
Responding to a parliamentary question from Conservative MP Andrew Snowden, Ms Sackman said: “As assurance work continues HMCTS will contact other parties whose case outcomes may have been affected.
“The Chief Executive of HMCTS will write to the Justice Select Committee once the assurance period has concluded setting out the total number of cases affected, the parties contacted and the outcome of any follow-up action.”
Liberal Democrat shadow attorney general Ben Maguire MP said: “It is shocking to learn that 700,000 cases may have been affected by the HMCTS IT failure. This appears to be a potentially devastating failure that is both damaging and completely unacceptable.”
“Our justice system used to be the envy of the world but, after years of mismanagement and underinvestment by the last Conservative Government, it is struggling with huge backlogs and delays that have pushed it to the brink.
“The Government must launch a fully independent investigation to uncover any miscarriages of justice resulting from the loss of evidence. This can never happen again and Ministers must take immediate action to restore confidence in our justice system.”
