HMCTS expands investigation into IT flaw after whistleblowers draw Horizon comparisons

The UK's HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is continuing to check whether an IT bug that could hide documents and data affected the outcome of any cases, a government minister has said.

In a written parliamentary answer, Sarah Sackman, Minister of State for Justice, said that the issue was of "very low incidence" and that investigations to date had found no evidence of impact on case outcomes. However, she added: "Further assurance work is ongoing."

The bug affected HMCTS's civil, family, and tribunal services with a particular impact on the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal, which hears appeals against government benefit payment decisions. Sackman said it was caused by a faulty interaction between a case management system and the core case database. "This technical issue had the potential to cause some documents and data fields to be hidden from view in certain cases across civil ...