Crown Courts and Magistrates’ Courts are to test a digital case management platform as part of the government’s digital transformation of the justice system.

From September 2020, the Common Platform will provide criminal courts with access to relevant case information for all parties involved in cases, including the judiciary, solicitors and barristers, the Crown Prosecution Service and court staff.

Early adopter courts across England and Wales will test the system before the subsequent rollout to all criminal courts over 12 months. This will begin in Derby and then roll out incrementally to the others in the series.

The system will make all information about a case - such as charges, evidence and results - accessible digitally to all parties.

Access to different kinds of information is securely controlled to make sure that each participant only sees the material that is appropriate to them.

The platform cuts down the need for manual document handling and reduces the amount of paper documents produced. It also removes the need to copy information from one digital platform to another at different stages in a case, improving the way criminal cases are accessed, managed and processed.

It is planned that the platform will eventually replace existing software applications Libra, XHIBIT, Bench, Court Store and Digital Mark-Up within a single, streamlined system.

Amanda Lowndes, Midlands head of crime, commented: “We are pleased to have been chosen as the first of the early adopter courts to test the Common Platform digital product: it shows the confidence placed in us that we can successfully rise to the challenge in these uncertain times.

“It will help us to work more effectively together, reduce delays and make evidence sharing easier. We’re very keen to work with our judges and others to test this digital product in our court.”

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