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Written question asked by Lord Birt (Crossbench) on Monday, 22 June 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 6 July 2026. It was answered by Baroness Levitt (Labour) on Monday, 6 July 2026 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Probate: Standards

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of completed probate applications are granted within eight weeks.

Answer

Grants of representation1 issued within 8 weeks, England and Wales

2025

Source: HMCTS Core Case Data

Total grants issued

Issued within 8 weeks of application submission2,5

Issued within 8 weeks of document receipt3,4,5

Year

Count

% of total issued

Count

% of total issued

2025

295,417

240,505

81%

248,268

84%

Notes:

1) All grant types including letters of administration with/without a Will.

2) Timeliness figures are calculated from the date of application (which may be from an earlier period) to the date the grant was issued.

3) Timeliness figures are calculated from the date of document receipt (which may be from an earlier period) to the date the grant was issued.

4) Document receipt occurs after payment has been made and all accompanying paperwork has been received by HMCTS. As such, it does not reflect the entire case journey from when an application is submitted by the user to when a grant is received. Instead these figures reflect the timeliness from when HMCTS staff are able to start working on the case.

5) Includes cases up to and including 8 weeks (56 days)

Due to revisions these figures may differ slightly to those published in Family Court Statistics Quarterly

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL1136
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Probate Standards
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk