HM Courts & Tribunals Service Employee Reviews

Fellow employees are great, but we’re all stuck in this mess together. Management create a toxic work environment, and either don’t realise, or care, that its driving people out. Not enough staff to manage the work, and continually taking on more.

Pros

Friendly colleagues

Cons

Management

Was this review helpful?

Demotivating and demanding.

Court Usher (Former Employee) - Chichester - 19 July 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?It’s not a good place to work What is the most stressful part about working at the company?The hours, the people and the travelWhat is the work environment and culture like at the company?Stressful and very busy. There is not much support.What is a typical day like for you at the company?Stressful and busy with a lot of office politics.

Was this review helpful?

Insights into HM Courts & Tribunals Service

Based on 93 survey responses

What people like

Ability to meet personal goals
Feeling of personal appreciation
Clear sense of purpose

Areas for improvement

Energising work tasks
Fair pay for job
Sense of belonging

Fast paced, varied work

Team Leader (Current Employee) - Birmingham, West Midlands - 10 July 2023

Work is fast paced and varied amongst sections. Although, this has disadvantages as there is often little to no cover when you're on leave. Roles change and work is often added to roles with projects, with little to no planning on the impact. Continuous improvement is often dismissed by senior management and there is generally a day to day attitude of work. Teams are nice but overwhelmed. Staff shortages and poor training results in mistakes, more often than should be in a professional environment. Needs senior management and attitude change. Better training and planning.

Was this review helpful?

Professional

Administrator (Former Employee) - Romford - 22 June 2023

Nice place to work, varied jobs., good management, good pension scheme, opportunity to learn new skills, time off for maternity leave, flexible working practices.

Was this review helpful?

Fantastic Place to Work

Facilities Administrator (Former Employee) - Manchester, Greater Manchester - 20 June 2023

Really enjoyed working here. Great people, great support, interesting and always room for progression. Management were brilliant and supportive. I wouldn't say there was a hard part to the job as it was somewhere I enjoyed coming to work each day.

Was this review helpful?

Rate your recent company

Share your experience to help others

Fine

Tribunal Member (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 31 May 2023

Fine. Supportive in some ways, not in others. Friendly people, interesting work. All the downside of being freelance but all the upsides as well. Mixed bag.

Was this review helpful?

Lacklustre salary & benefits, Kind people

Administration Officer (Current Employee) - Chester - 19 May 2023

The role is interesting, you’ll learn something new everyday however the management style is outdated and workload/pay/benefits don’t add up. You’ll often find yourself taking your work home with you mostly in a negative fashion. The environment at my local site is good however communicating with other sites has proven to be painful at best.

Pros

Interesting role

Cons

Outdated management

Was this review helpful?

Stressful

Administrator (Current Employee) - St Helens, Merseyside - 8 May 2023

Good teamwork and management do their best under the circumstances however not enough staff to do everything and pay is poor an there is little career progression.

Was this review helpful?

Toxic environment, avoid at all costs

Court Usher (Former Employee) - Blackburn, Lancashire - 25 March 2023

The work itself is relatively straightforward, however the environment and culture is awful. Lots of bullying, passive aggressive comments from mangers on a daily basis, lack of training and the in-fighting between departments is legendary. Mangers expect you to know everything within a 4 week period, asking questions or clarification is frowned upon, no-one is happy at their work, taking holidays/entitlement/paid time off is difficult, constantly berated if you cannot work on your days off and you are required to do the work of other departments - regardless of lack of knowledge/training. Would give it zero stars in all areas if possible.

Pros

3 coffees available per day

Cons

Unhappy staff in all departments, toxic culture and mass bullying behaviour

Was this review helpful?

Rewarding and interesting role - room for development

Administrative Officer (Former Employee) - Glasgow, Glasgow - 6 March 2023

Engaging workplace with really interesting workload whatever team you are in. Super flexible working. During covid, many teams became hybrid too. HMCTS is committed to ensuring staff have opportunities to learn and develop. I really enjoyed my time here and learned various transferrable skills, got to shadow other departments and applied for a few promotion positions. The roles suit people of multiple skills and easy to climb the ladder if you show keenness. The pay is poor and there was kind of a 'one rule for them' attitude with some management. There was an issue with older staff being set in their ways and resistant to change, unwilling to develop and then moaning that their line manager was someone new to the organization.

Was this review helpful?

Jobs at HM Courts & Tribunals Service

See more jobs

Court Associate - Manchester Magistrates' Court

Manchester

3 days ago

Court Associate - Preston Magistrates' Court

Preston

3 days ago

Administrative Officer - Runcorn

Runcorn

3 days ago

Administrative Officer - Leeds

Leeds

12 days ago

Administrative Officer - North Shields & Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough

9 days ago

Think twice before applying!

Query Management and Case Admin Officer HMCTS Hanley (Current Employee) - Hanley, Staffordshire - 24 November 2022

This organisation cannot keep staff in position! This may be because of the SOME of the prejudiced senior management. Also may be to do with being treated like schoolchildren and having to be TOLD when you can take a break or even nip to the loo! The work is repetative and boring. It is a call centre - even though they insist that it isn't. You are shoved onto phones after just two weeks background training without the knowledge or skills to answer the majority of queries - resulting in repeatedly having to put callers on hold which in turn results in irate callers. After a day of this you feel very stressed! Very little admin work - and this tends to be carried out by the favioured few. You might be lucky and end up with an experienced Team Leader - but most of them are new too and so cannot give the support you may need. As for HR - the worst HR department I have ever come across - took them 4 months to get my salary correct.

Pros

Supportive TL's if you're lucky enough to get an experienced one

Cons

just about everything!

Was this review helpful?

An awful place to work

Administration Officer (Current Employee) - South West - 20 November 2022

-No standardised training, staff are expected to understand systems that simply don’t exist. -Schoolyard culture, cliques that develop, obvious favouritism and nepotism reign supreme, impossible to flag bullying. -Zero progression. Unless you want to wait 3-5 years for a management position to open, then compete against 100 staffers, internal progression is nonexistent. -Low salary for amount of work and knowledge required. No pay benefits or raises either, day 1 salary is day 1000 salary. -Toxic judges that are practically invincible, will actively blame you for their poor conduct and influence management to cultivate the workforce to their convenience.

Was this review helpful?

Fast paced delivery of justice

Magistrates' Legal Advisor - Crime, Civil, Family (Current Employee) - North East - 12 October 2022

Of all the legal jobs in the rooms of the Magistrates Courts, the Legal Advisers is the closest to the actual delivery of justice as you can get.. The government needs to realise the quality & skill of their LAs and pay them more.. Flexible, collaborative working. Friendly colleagues & immediate management are supportive.. government need to pay everyone within HMCTS more given the responsibility for the actual delivery of justice.

Pros

Flexible working, hybrid working when possible, supportive & collaborative colleagues

Cons

Pay, reform process

Was this review helpful?

Interesting and testing work environment, little room for progression

Crown Court Clerk (Former Employee) - Lewes, East Sussex - 12 October 2022

I loved the people I worked with and thoroughly enjoyed developing new skills through the testing role. There's a never ending flow of work which forces you to streamline and prioritise your work, whilst ensuring accuracy. You have to meet and deal with a wide range of people from all different backgrounds and in all manner of circumstances. The combinations of working with people alongside administrative tasks made for varied and dynamic work.

Was this review helpful?

Somewhere to work as a in between job

Administrator (Former Employee) - Wiltshire - 10 October 2022

Interesting to begin with. Great for someone wanting to do part time.Zero progression offered. Wage does not reflect what is expected of you.Poor management. If you are looking for a career this is not the place.

Pros

You meet a few very lovely people.

Cons

Poor management. Zero progression. Not a career.

Was this review helpful?

Do not work for HMCTS

Executive Officer (Former Employee) - Leeds, West Yorkshire - 11 September 2022

Awful department to work for. It’s not what you know it’s who you know! Nepotism within HMCTS is shocking. Management are not competent for managerial positions. They have no people skills and do not appreciate their staff. Management force you to undertake tasks without training.

Was this review helpful?

Micro management

Court and Tribunal Service Centre, Support Officer (Current Employee) - Stoke-on-Trent - 3 September 2022

This is a call centre, with endless calls, minimal admin tasks. Wvery minute of your working tine is management by the minute. Frequent changes to tasks at a minutes notice.

Was this review helpful?

Can be stressful but rewarding

County Court bailiff (Former Employee) - Manchester - 16 August 2022

Treat people as you would like to be treated yourself and you can’t go wrong . Good management and colleagues. The work can be stressful but having said that you will meet some nice members of the public along the way as well as people who are down on their luck . For the most part you will work on your own although you are part of a larger team who occasionally work together. The work is varied . Their is computer/ office work but mostly you are out in the community. You will execute Court warrants to recover money for claimants or do Property repossessions and service of court documents.

Pros

Good colleagues

Cons

Wage could be better

Was this review helpful?

Beware

Administration Officer (Former Employee) - Birmingham - 9 July 2022

When I started the job the role was manageable and the atmosphere in the department good too. It was a mix of case work, calls and webchat and you were given the knowledge in training.Then the pandemic hit and the emphasis on quality of work was compromised as the department brought in temp staff who were just ask to take calls and had no knowledge of the product as they went through a crash course of training which was asking for trouble.I would get call takers messaging me about basics, which I received in my training but they obviously didn’t. As case loads went though the roof due to the pandemic a lot of pressure was put on the experienced staff to get cases through the door. Since the easing of lockdown, nothing has gone back to a steady ship and the majority of the workers are taking advantage, by coming in late and leaving early as they are friends with managers.You get your cliques who will be nice to your face but then talk behind your back. If you wish to progress, make sure you get in with the cliques as talented individuals will be passed over for promotion and people who have no knowledge, no people skills and blag their way through an interview from the help of certain managers. They claim there is a “blind recruitment” process but that’s only at the application stage. The waters are getting cold and an iceberg is in sight, unfortunately the ship is heading towards it.

Pros

need to have a long think about that

Cons

lack of progression and bad pay

Was this review helpful?

Not a good place to work

Administrator (Current Employee) - London - 6 July 2022

Stressful environment. Awful pay. Poor career paths. Poorly managed. The staff that actually deliver the service are not considered, their option's are not taken on board when decisions are made.

Pros

Hours are good for parents, good annual leave

Cons

Low wages, low staff morale, poor procedures, poorly organised, poor management

Was this review helpful?

An energised and worthwhile work environment

Audio Typist/Secretary (Former Employee) - Holborn - 25 June 2022

This is a fascinating place to be. Some of the casework was topical and working with brilliant legal minds was highly stimulating. The law has still a way to go to achieve greater diversity at a more senior level. The work is demanding and exhausting but that is why it is worth being a part of even for a few months.