The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) is an agency of the Department of Justice for Northern Ireland. Before the devolution of policing and justice it was the Lord Chancellor’s Department in Northern Ireland and an independent civil service in its own right, having been established as a unified Court Service in 1979.
The Court Service rebranded as the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service on 12 April, establishing a new unified administration for courts and tribunals.
Our Role is to:
- provide administrative support to the Northern Ireland’s courts, ie the Court of Appeal, High Court, Crown Court, County Courts, Magistrates’ Courts and Coroner’s Courts;
- provide administrative support for tribunals;
- enforce civil court judgments through the Enforcement of Judgments Office; and
- Sponsor the work of the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission.
Values
In the course of our work we aspire to the following values:
- Integrity. We shall interact with our customers with the highest degree of integrity, promoting an atmosphere of honesty and trust.
- Openness. We shall undertake our work in an open and transparent manner.
- Professionalism. We shall conduct our business to the highest standards.
- Accountability. We shall be responsible for delivering a high quality service to the public.
- Fairness. We shall treat everyone fairly.
Strategic Aims
Within our Corporate Plan 2008 - 2011 (please use this link to view the Corporate Plan 2008 - 2011 (PDF)) we have set the following strategic objectives:
- Delivering responsive customer services;
- Improving access to justice;
- Promoting confidence in the justice system; and
- supporting an independent Judiciary.
Documents published on this site before 12 April 2010 are designated as “pre-devolution”. Some are of an historical nature and will remain unchanged as they are provided solely for reference.
Information leaflets about how to use Courts and Tribunals services which still carry our old title and logo are in the process of being renamed and re-branded. We would wish to make clear that the material they contain is still valid. We thank you for your co-operation during this updating process.