Director General Access to Justice
Biography
Peter Handcock was appointed as Director General Access to Justice on 1 April 2008. He has worked in the court system for over 30 years, in both operational and headquarters posts. Most recently he was the Principal Adviser to the Secretary of State on Criminal Justice, Department for Constitutional Affairs Delivery Director and Accountant General of the Supreme Court before his appointment to Chief Executive of the Tribunals Service on 6 December 2004.
Peter started in the civil service as a county court clerk before spending the next 12 years in progressively senior operational posts and then joining the department's fast streamer programme.
In 1992, Peter took on his first senior civil service post and now has a wide experience of developing approaches to managing criminal court processes and procedures, both strategic and operational, in partnership with the judiciary and other justice system agencies. He has been closely involved with major procedural reform of the civil justice system and had a leading role in planning further modernisation, including the development of new IT-enabled business models.