LEGAL advisers picketed outside Mold Law Courts to make their feeling about the rollout of a "flawed" IT system known.

The Leader reported previously on strikes held by members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) who work as legal advisers and court associates in magistrates courts up and down the country.

PCS advised the reason for the strikes was "common platform" - a court IT system used for recording the outcomes of hearings.

Court legal adviser Chris Hall, who is also the chair of PCS North Wales branch, explained the system sees legal advisors inputting the results of court cases in real time as the day progresses.

This creates additional stress for legal advisers for a number of reasons, one of which is bugs in the system which require "workarounds," and can result in delays to cases.

The system also comes on top of many tasks and processes a legal adviser must now undertake during the management of the courtroom.

On Monday, members of the union picketed outside Mold Law Courts to emphasise their position.

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Becky Gittins, MOJ group secretary and industrial officer for PCS, told the Leader: "This is a really interesting dispute because it's not about pay or job losses.

"This (common platform) is a system that doesn't allow our members to deliver justice.

"It's a flawed system with a lot of problems and it causes a lot of extra stress for members.

"I think this group of members are taking a very brave stance so they can deliver justice for the public."

Mr Hall, said: "We're concerned that we have a computer resulting system that is not fit for purpose.

"It is very stressful for staff to do real-time resulting in the courtroom and we don't feel we should be made to do resulting through our lunch and into the evening.

"But to get the work done, that's what we've had to resort to doing.

"We are calling for the suspension of common platform system - we just don't think it's fit for purpose."

Legal adviser Julia Townend said: "We've taken on the role of administrator rather than legal adviser and we're missing hearings and issues that might arise in court because we're distracted by the administration."

Mr Hall added: "We haven't got the ability to cope with all the things - the clerk (legal adviser) has simply now become an over-busy traffic junction, and it's an accident waiting to happen."

Legal adviser Marie Williams: "I'm used to resulting, I'm perfectly capable of resulting but doing resulting in a live environment is totally different to the office.

"In the office you'd have a free room to go in without distractions and you'd sit quietly and do it."

A HM Courts and Tribunals Service spokesperson said: “Common Platform is fundamental to modernising the court system – replacing out-of-date systems and freeing up court staff so we can better deliver justice for all.

“We will continue to work closely with all staff to support them through the transition.

"We want to thank all the court staff, judges and others who have contributed to its design and implementation so far.”

By way of guidance, the spokesman added: "Around 200 employees have voted to strike from a HMCTS workforce of 19,000.

"Common Platform is currently live in 173 courts, equating to 76 percent of all criminal courts, and 211,047 cases have been accepted onto the platform since the roll-out began.

"We continue to closely monitor the situation with all sites regularly reporting on the impact and mitigation."