UK Courts' Silent IT Glitch Erased Evidence for Years, Management Knew and Stayed Mute

Judicial System's Silent Glitch: Critical Evidence Vanished for Years, Management Knew

A startling revelation has emerged from the heart of Britain's justice system: a persistent IT flaw, known to its custodians for years, has led to the inexplicable disappearance of crucial evidence in countless court cases. What's more alarming is that HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the very body responsible for overseeing all courts and tribunals in England and Wales, apparently chose silence over swift remediation. This isn't just about minor technical hiccups; we're witnessing a systemic failure with potentially devastating consequences for justice.

The gravity of the situation cannot be overstated. For an undisclosed period, vital evidence – from sensitive medical records to critical contact details – simply vanished, was overwritten, or lost altogether within the court system's digital archives. This digital amnesia meant judges were often deliberating and delivering verdicts based on incomplete, fragmented information. In a realm where accuracy and thoroughness are paramount, this is not merely an oversight; it's a betrayal of the public trust.

A Deliberate Omission?

The most disturbing aspect of this ongoing scandal is the apparent inaction and lack of transparency. HMCTS, despite being aware of the pervasive issue, reportedly failed to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the full scope of the problem or its impact. Worse still, neither judges nor legal professionals were informed about the missing materials. The rationale provided – that revealing the glitch would "cause more harm than good" – strikes a dissonant chord, raising serious questions about the motives behind this prolonged silence.

HMCTS's assertion that these technical failures did not influence judicial outcomes sounds deeply unconvincing. The loss of essential evidence, particularly in cases determining the fate of individuals and families, presents a clear and present danger to fairness. As Sir James Munby, former President of the Family Division of the High Court, poignantly put it, such errors can be the difference between a child being removed from a perilous environment or a vulnerable person receiving essential social benefits.

The Scope of the Catastrophe

The ripple effects of this IT anomaly have been far-reaching. While the Social Security and Child Support Appeals (SSCS) unit, handling appeals related to social assistance and child maintenance, appears to have been disproportionately affected, the fallout has also impacted family, civil, probate, and employment law cases. The sheer volume of cases potentially compromised paints a grim picture of a justice system operating on shaky digital foundations.

An examination of Ministry of Justice documents from 2024 concerning SSCS cases revealed a disquieting pattern. Out of 109 cases selected for review, HMCTS deemed only one as having a "potentially significant impact" due to lost data. This assessment, however, was later downgraded to low risk, with further checks deemed unnecessary. Such conclusions have been met with skepticism by IT security experts, like Professor Alan Woodward from the University of Surrey, who deem them "illogical."

Whispers of a Cover-Up

Anonymous sources within HMCTS have drawn chilling parallels between this situation and the infamous Horizon scandal, where systemic issues were allegedly downplayed. Software, implemented in 2018 and purportedly suffering from "poorly or unreliably designed" architecture, has been plagued by data loss problems for years. The prevailing sentiment among insiders is that reputational damage, rather than the profound human cost of lost justice, was the primary driver behind the decision to conceal the truth.

The catalyst for an official internal inquiry appears to have been a formal whistleblower complaint filed by an HMCTS employee in 2024. Leaked reports suggest significant data breaches and delayed responses, despite technical staff raising red flags as early as 2019. The problems persist, continuing to cast a shadow over civil, family, and appellate proceedings. In a separate, yet equally concerning, incident within family courts, another glitch led to the disappearance of over 4,000 documents from hundreds of child protection cases. Though this error was reportedly fixed in 2023, no thorough impact assessment was conducted.

Governmental Response and Demands for Accountability

While the government has acknowledged the situation as "shocking," former Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, who oversaw HMCTS during an initial review, claims ignorance of the specific issue and labels it "incredibly serious." He is now calling for a government-led investigation and a complete overhaul of the service's management. The implications of such widespread data loss and systemic concealment are profound, demanding immediate and robust accountability to restore faith in the integrity of the British legal system.