The CJC pre-action protocols working group, chaired by Professor Andrew Higgins, began work in late 2020. The report discusses the potential for digital pre-action portals to make dispute resolution more accessible and efficient, as well as examining the risks involved.
It recommends compliance be made formally mandatory, except where cases are urgent: for example, where the limitation period is expiring or an urgent injunction is sought. Online pre-action portals ‘should be accessible and workable for both professional court users and litigants in person, and digital assistance or paper-based alternatives must be available for litigants in person who are technologically disadvantaged’.
Special provision is made for vulnerable parties—all online pre-action portals should include a question asking parties about their vulnerability, so that extra support can be provided.
Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls and CJC chair, said: ‘Pre-action protocols are an essential part of the wider pre-action civil justice system.’
