HMCTS Common Platform: view or manage a case

If you are a defence professional you can use this service to:

• link yourself to a case or defendant so the Legal Aid Agency is informed for payment purposes
• self-serve case materials, including the initial details of the prosecution case (IDPC) and the pre-trial readiness form (PET form) in the magistrates’ court
• serve documents on the court for magistrates’ Common Platform cases

If you are a member of the judiciary, HMCTS or a partner agency, you can use the service to view cases and take part in Common Platform hearings.

Before you start

To use the service, you must have an account. If you are a defence professional, your firm or chambers must register you for your account.

Register for an account

We will verify your application and send you an approval email within 3 working days. You will then need to activate your account and set up your security authentication.

Find a case

Once you have activated your account, you can start accessing case information in Common Platform on a desktop, laptop or tablet device.

You will need your phone for the security authentication but cannot use it to access Common Platform.

Start now

You cannot use Internet Explorer for Common Platform, so you may need to copy the link into one of these browsers:

• Edge (or Edge Chromium)
• Chrome
• Firefox
• Safari

Get help and guidance

See our guides on using Common Platform:

• How to use Common Platform: for defence professionals on activating an account and using Common Platform to manage cases
• Common Platform for defence administrators: creating user accounts, assigning roles and other admin functionality

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We aim to respond to emails within 5 working days.