The video conferencing system that facilitates remote court hearings and allows defendants to participate in trials has encountered a significant outage this morning, resulting in widespread disruptions across courts in England and Wales. The Cloud Video Platform (CVP), which is crucial for witnesses, lawyers, defendants, journalists, and all parties involved in court cases to attend remotely, was non-operational on Tuesday morning.
The i Paper reported that they were unable to attend a trial concerning an alleged terror plot at Sheffield Crown Court, where court staff indicated that they could not utilize CVP due to a “national issue.” A barrister from another court, who requested anonymity, corroborated this, stating that they had also been informed of this “national issue” and that some legal professionals were experiencing technical difficulties with a different system used for preparing and sharing information in crown courts. “It’s absolute chaos,” they expressed.
The Criminal Bar Association has confirmed that it received reports of outages affecting the CVP video hearing system from numerous courts, including Birmingham, Canterbury, Southwark, Aylesbury, Leicester, Derby, Luton, Lincoln, and Peterborough. This situation implies that cases involving individuals unable to be physically present in court cannot proceed. This includes defendants appearing via video link from prison and barristers attending cases remotely.
In addition to criminal cases in crown and magistrates’ courts, CVP is also employed in civil cases and family courts. This system was introduced at the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020, as part of a concerted effort to reinstate the justice system following court closures and the restrictions imposed by social distancing measures.
Impact on Court Backlogs
The current outage of the video link is poised to exacerbate the already worsening backlog in the courts, which is currently experiencing trial dates scheduled as far out as 2028. There are growing concerns that an increasing number of victims are withdrawing from prosecutions due to the traumatic delays involved. According to Ministry of Justice statistics, as of the end of September, there were over 73,000 outstanding cases in crown courts and a staggering 333,000 cases pending in magistrates’ courts across England and Wales.
CVP has become an integral part of the normal court processes, viewed as a vital tool in addressing court backlogs. It allows barristers to attend multiple hearings in a single day, even if those hearings are taking place in different locations. The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for further comment regarding this pressing situation.
