Backlog of 900 coroners' cases in county finally clearing after delays
Bereaved families are getting answers sooner as a backlog of hundreds of coroners’ cases in the county is finally being cleared.
A coroner is responsible for investigating any violent, sudden or unnatural deaths, or those where the cause is unclear.
Delays caused by the Covid pandemic and disruption to the Lincolnshire coroners’ service had led to a backlog of more than 900 cases in 2023, with 400 of them over 12 months old.
By the end of 2024, this had fallen to 600, with only 267 being older than a year.
The time that families have to wait for inquests has now fallen to 28 weeks, which is better than the national average.
Inquests aim to find facts rather than lay blame, establishing where, when and how a person died.
His Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Lincolnshire, Paul Smith, reassured county councillors that the situation was improving after years of disruption.
“We have got over halfway there in the last 15 months,” he told Lincolnshire County Council’s community safety committee on Tuesday (July 22).
“There is still a long way to go, but we are making good efforts to reduce it.
“The timeliness to inquest is unlikely to improve until the old caseload washes through, but we hope we will have reduced the cases over 12 months old to under 150 by the end of year.”
Road deaths contribute to the unusually high number of inquests the service has to complete locally.
“Lincolnshire has the unhappy record for highest number of road traffic collision deaths in the country – a statistic which is repeated year on year,” he said.
In April 2024, the Lincolnshire service merged with the one covering North Lincolnshire and Grimsby.
That area had a backlog twice the size, despite the population only being half as large.
Both areas faced challenges holding inquests in 2024 due to work going on at both the Myle Cross Centre in Lincoln and Grimsby Town Hall, where they are typically held.
As a result, there were several months in 2024 when coroners were unable to hold inquests with a jury or multiple participants.
Councillor Jane Smith (Ref) said: “I remember plenty of concern about the potential merger [with North Lincolnshire] – I’m pleased it’s working so well, and will continue to be a success.”