Friday 7 February 2025 A weekly round-up of the latest news and information about courts and tribunals | | Have you ever wondered how you get selected to sit on a jury and what happens once you are chosen? In the latest episode of our Inside HMCTS podcast series, our Deputy Director of Crime shares his experiences after serving as a juror last year, highlighting what to expect when you're called to serve, and why it is so important. | | Our latest short video summarises news highlights from January, including a sustainability initiative where we provided furniture to a new mock courtroom at the Richard Huish College in Taunton and the opening of a new courtroom at Redditch Magistrates' Court. We also feature increased access to family courts for journalists and updates on Harrow Crown Court and our new tribunals court building in London. | | This week, the Government announced a £12.5 million funding boost to Pathfinder courts across Wales and West Yorkshire to tackle family court backlogs. The programme, which provides £500 to help couples settle issues before they get to court, has provided help to over 37,700 families to date. | | There is still time to register and join our Probate team who will be hosting a webinar for probate professionals on Tuesday 11 February 2025. The webinar will include an overview of the main developments to the service from 2024, an update on service performance and insights into our plans for the service this year. | | The next probate service drop-in session will be at North Shields County Court on Wednesday 12 March 2025 from 11:30am to 12:30pm. This session is an opportunity for local probate professionals to meet the team, find out more about the service and hear about planned improvements. For more information and to register your attendance email nsfamilybmt@justice.gov.uk. | | What did you think of this email? | | |