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<p>The most recently published information regarding combined waiting times for a
grant of probate, on paper and digital cases, covers January 2021 to March 2021 and
is published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly (Table 25):</p><p><a
href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2021"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2021</a></p><p>Despite
the unprecedented challenges faced by the probate service during the Covid 19 pandemic,
and as a result of HMCTS increasing resources to meet demand, the average length of
time taken for a grant of probate following receipt of the documents required has
been maintained at between four to six weeks.</p><p>HMCTS continues to invest in the
improvement of the online Probate system which was developed as part of the wider
HMCTS Reform Programme to further streamline ways of working resulting in a system
that is simpler and easy to understand for applicants; is accessible; and more efficient
and robust to run.</p><p>The introduction of digital systems and bulk scanning has
proved vital during the Covid 19 pandemic, allowing HMCTS staff to continue to process
incoming applications and allowing Court users to access Probate services remotely.</p><p>The
Exela contract is managed in line with MOJ Policy for strategic contracts and is therefore
subject to the highest levels of governance to ensure service delivery. More than
half a million documents were scanned without error in 2020 and on the rare occasions
where errors occur, the majority of documents are re-scanned within 24 hours of a
request being made.</p>
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