Start date unveiled for extended court hours pilots in Manchester and Brentford

The pilots of extended sitting hours at Manchester Civil Justice Centre and Brentford County Court will begin on 2 September, HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) has announced.

The pilots will run for six months and consist of late sittings (4:30pm to 7pm) involving both civil and family work at Manchester and early (8am to 10:30am) and late sittings involving civil work only at Brentford.

HMCTS said that by piloting the use of court hearing rooms outside the traditional hours of 10am to 4pm, it would be able to test whether this offered better access to justice for people before or after their working day and improve the efficient use of buildings.

The pilot plans were first announced in November last year.

HMCTS said: “Any decisions about using Flexible Operating Hours in the future will only be made following robust assessment of evidence and data gathered through these pilots and a comprehensive, independent evaluation of the impacts, costs and benefits across the justice system.”