The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) is an Agency within the Department of Justice (DOJ) sponsored by the Access to Justice Directorate.

For further information please view our booklet 'Who we are and what we do'.

Our Role

The role of the NICTS is to:

• provide administrative support for Northern Ireland’s courts and tribunals;
• support an independent Judiciary;
• provide advice to the Minister of Justice (the Minister) on matters relating to the operation of the courts and tribunals;
• enforce civil court judgments through the Enforcement of Judgments Office (EJO);
• manage funds held in court on behalf of minors and patients;
• provide high quality courthouses and tribunal hearing centres; and
• act as the Central Authority for the registration of judgments under certain international conventions.

Values

The Corporate aim of the NICTS is ‘Serving the Community through the Administration of Justice’ and we aim, at all times, to demonstrate the following corporate values –

Integrity to interact with our customers with the highest degree of integrity, promoting an atmosphere of honesty and trust;

Openness to undertake our work in an open and transparent manner;

Professionalism to conduct our business to the highest standards;

Accountability to be responsible for delivering a high quality service to the public;

Fairness to treat everyone fairly.

Strategic Aims

Within our Business Plan 2011 - 2012 (please use this link to view the Business Plan 2011 - 2012) we have set the following strategic objectives:

• To deliver efficient and effective court, tribunal and enforcement services
• To deliver high quality services that meet the needs of court and tribunal users
• To contribute to public confidence in the administration of justice
• To deliver a controlled financial and commercial environment achieving value for money
• To continuously improve our business processes and services
• To develop and lead our people to achieve our objectives
• To maximise our organisational capacity and capability
• To deliver effective and affordable publicly funded legal services to those who cannot otherwise afford access to justice

NICTS Governance Arrangements

The NICTS draft Framework Document sets out the arrangements for the effective governance, financing and operation of the NICTS. Under the new governance arrangements, an Agency Board was established to provide leadership and direction to the NICTS. You can read further about the Agency Board through this link