SLAS expresses access to justice concerns over Civil Online

Andrew Stevenson, secretary of SLAS, said it was no coincidence that supporters of Civil Online have “big debt recovery practices”.

He added: “This month’s development, bulk submission, will let them issue formulaic claims on an industrial scale. Of course this cuts their costs but we are concerned that this may be at the expense of access to justice for those at the receiving end of such claims.

“When Civil Online was introduced in part, only two years ago, SCTS announced reassuringly that ‘there will always be an alternative available to those who cannot use or access a digital process’. The facility became fully functional only last year, and in June 2020 the tone changed, SCTS declaring that from 30th July new Simple Procedure cases “must be via Civil Online unless in exceptional circumstances and on cause shown.”

Many, however, either lack the confidence or are incapable of using online processes, Mr Stevenson said.

“A lot of people sued by utilities, credit card companies or property factors are in that predicament precisely because they have disorganised lives or lack the education, intelligence or literacy to navigate their way round digitised systems – like Civil Online. Others are elderly or vulnerable,” he said. “Or they may be, to use a SCTS term, ‘not digitally enabled’.”

As regards COVID-19, he added: “In this context the virus has metamorphosised into a red herring. The use of paper forms in court actions should present little or no risk to health. Were it otherwise, commissary work would not be continuing in paper mode.

“Assume the worst, that a written simple procedure claim form does carry coronavirus; the solution is that the sheriff clerk refrains from opening mail for three days from receipt; we have seen no scientific report to suggest that COVID-19 lives for longer than 72 hours on any surface.

“Yet we have Sheriffs Principal’s guidance notes compelling the use of Civil Online and the submission of documents in electronic form. Ironically, in South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway anyone wishing to set out the exceptional circumstances why she should not have to submit documents electronically has to do so in a covering letter.

“We note that English small claims procedure allows paper forms; without having to show cause.

“SLAS has no difficulty with Civil Online per se. I was impressed by it when I attended a pilot demonstration in Parliament House prior to 2018. It is an attractive choice. But access to justice demands that it has to be optional, not mandatory, as in England. That applies even more for respondents.”