HMCTS Bulk Access Service for Bulk Provision of Wills and Grants of Probate Market Engagement

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Court and Tribunal Fees Policy Team is looking to engage with current and potential users of the Probate Bulk Access Service that His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) operates. This service currently provides digital access to all copies of wills and grants of probate published in England & Wales for a fixed fee per copy.

The purpose of this market engagement is to develop a broader understanding of the organisations that use or would be interested in using this service, their views on how it currently operates and for what purposes the data could be used.

We want to hear from organisations who:

• Currently use the service and would like to participate in its ongoing development.
• Do not currently use the service but are interested in receiving access to this data.
• Are unsure if this service is relevant for their organisation but would like to find out more about how it operates.
• Operate in related sectors, such as legacy management or genealogy.

The findings from this engagement may help to inform any future changes the MoJ makes to the service and its payment model. The intentions of this market engagement is to develop our understanding of the current and potential buyers of this service, and does not commit participants to using the service, or the MoJ to any future changes.

Event details

The MoJ invites interested organisations to attend a virtual market engagement event on Monday 16th December 2024 which will be delivered via MS Teams and take place 13:00-14:00. Please respond by Close of Play Monday 9th December to allow time for invitations to be issued.

The intention of this event is to set the scene for the interviews and questionnaire, by providing background information on the service and to answer any questions organisations may have around how the service operates.

The event structure will be as follows:

• Introduction, including the purpose of the market engagement.
• How the service works and what users are provided with.
• Next steps for further engagement.
• An opportunity for questions.

Following the presentation, we will be distributing a questionnaire and holding a limited number of slots between mid-December and mid-January for one-to-one interviews to discuss this service and your organisation further . If you are unable to attend the presentation, we can send through a hard copy of the presentation if you would like to take part in the questionnaire and/or one-to-one interviews.

Some of the key questions we will be exploring include:

• If you are interested in using this service, what would your future plans be in regard to using the copies of wills and grants of probate data?
• What functionality/capability would you like from this service that isn't currently available?
• What payment models work best for your organisation?
• What are the key market risks in your sector?

Additional information:

Please note that all non-commercially sensitive questions and answers will be recorded and may be shared with the wider market, alongside any materials shared during the event.

If you wish to attend the Market Engagement Event please register via the Jaggaer E-procurement system.

Once in the portal look for "PQQ_464" and send a message to the Authority with the following details to attend the event;

• Organisation Name
• Contact Name(s) and Job Titles of those planning to attend.
• Contact Email Address(es) of those planning to attend.
• Anticipated level of engagement (presentation, questionnaire and/or one-to-one (see below)

Key dates

When registering to take part in this market research, please indicate your anticipated level of participation:

• Attend the presentation.
• Respond to a questionnaire as well as or instead of attending the presentation; the questionnaire will be available from 16th December to 13th January. There is no obligation to attend the presentation or partake in a one-to-one interview if you would only like to participate via questionnaire.
• Attend a one-to-one interview as well as or instead of attending the presentation and/or completing the questionnaire. Interviews will be available from 23rd December to 10th January. Please indicate, by 6th January at the latest, which week would be preferable for your interview, choosing from week commencing 23rd December, week commencing 30th December or week commencing 6th January 2025. After the presentation, we will then contact you in advance to confirm a date on this week.

If, after the presentation, you decide you would like to fill in a questionnaire and/or have an interview, please get in touch by 6th January at the latest. To note, we cannot guarantee one-to-one interview availability at the later stage.

We encourage organisations to come to the presentation in order to get as much information about the service as possible.

This event will help to shape the service and does not constitute a commitment to changing the service or its current payment model.