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Court workers to ballot for strike action over ‘failed’ new system

COURT workers are to ballot for strike action over the decision to roll out a “failed” case management system despite concerns over its impact on staff mental health and wellbeing. 

The Common Platform system, which allows all parties involved in criminal cases to access case information, has been beset with problems since it was first introduced in late 2020. 

Concerns about errors by the new digital system forced Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service to pause its rollout last year and carry out trials. 

It found that tasks took longer and staff stress levels increased. 

The union said today that HMCTS’s “disgraceful” decision to continue rolling out the system across the country has given them no choice but to ballot members in England and Wales for strike action. 
 
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Common Platform remains fundamentally unfit for purpose and for the government to say otherwise is dishonest. 

“The cumulative impact of working with a failed system is having an indescribably negative impact on members health and wellbeing.”

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We are committed to working with staff and unions on the rollout of the Common Platform, which has managed over 100,000 criminal cases since it began. 

“Staff have been involved from the start in designing and implementing a system that will modernise the way that the criminal justice system is administered.”

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