The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) is an agency under the Access to Justice Directorate 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.

The Northern Ireland Court Service rebranded as the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service on 12 April, establishing a new unified administration for courts and tribunals.

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

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 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