IDG45050 - Orders from court: Introduction to disclosing information when ordered to by court

Court orders, witness summonses and subpoenas are all formal demands for information from law courts. This section explains when you will be required to disclose information to law courts, how the CRCA allows you to disclose confidential information to the courts, and the procedure you should follow to do so lawfully. This section also describes the occasions when it is not possible to provide information to the courts.

Decisions on whether the necessary conditions have been complied with are made centrally. However it is vital if you receive a court request for information that you give it the highest priority to ensure it gets to the central team in good time.

Therefore you should:

• take responsibility at the earliest stage to ensure that the court order is dealt with, even if you are not the ‘specialist’ in the area or your office is not responsible for the customer’s records
• inform your manager that an order from court has been received
• telephone KAI Knowledge Resources (see IDG90100) to let them know that the papers are being sent
• fax all relevant papers immediately to KAI Knowledge Resources.

However, if you are uncertain how to act, you can simply contact KAI Knowledge Resources for advice. You must not provide a court with confidential information without prior approval.

Please note that a witness statement is not a statement made to the courts. Guidance on witness statements can be found atIDG42200.

Devolved administrations

If you receive a court order or witness citation from a Scottish court please contact Sols office, Edinburgh (see IDG90100 for contact details).

If you receive a document from a court in Northern Ireland please contact KAI Knowledge Resources (see IDG90100).

Child Benefit Office

All Child Benefit Office (CBO) Court Orders are processed by the CBO Customer Relations Unit. If you work in the CBO please follow the above but referring orders to this unit rather than KAI Knowledge Resources. See IDG90100 for CBO Customer Relations Unit contact details.

Further guidance

For further guidance and assistance generally on confidentiality, contact KAI Knowledge Resources (see IDG90100).

See also