Latest data on civil claims demonstrate “how badly justice has declined”, consumer justice organisation says

The MoJ's report on civil justice statistics for the first quarter of this year was released last week (1 June).

On timeliness, the report said figures have remained "relatively stable" since Q1 2021 for small claims yet continue to increase gradually for fast and multi-track trials, which still contain a considerable proportion of cases which were issued during the pandemic.

The MoJ report said: "Measures have been put in place to help reduce waiting times, as reflected in the increased number of hearings in the current quarter compared to Q1 2022. However, we expect timeliness measures to be impacted for as long as cases stayed during the pandemic remain in the open caseload."

Commenting on the statistics, Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of ACSO, said: "[The] civil justice system has become a Cinderella service after years of government cuts and ministers taking their eye off the ball.

"The latest data once again underline how badly justice has declined, a point noted in the latest World Justice Project report which found that the UK has slipped from 13th to 20th in the ranking of countries with the most accessible and affordable civil justice system."

He highlighted that small claims are still taking around a year to reach court (51.9 weeks) and multi/fast track claims 79.9 weeks, an increase of 16 weeks on the same period last year for multi/fast track.

Maxwell Scott added that separate research by the ACSO suggested that it takes 353 days to wait for the court to hear a case on average.

He said: "Our data found that court delays in Dartford are running at 829 days, with the best performer being Blackpool with delays of 79 days. The South East is the worst performing region with an average wait of 462 days, while the North East is the best with an average wait of 251 days."

Maxwell Scott said: "The Ministry of Justice's own statistics underline that there is a very long road ahead to rescue our civil justice system. What is so disappointing is that there is no clear strategy to resolve these issues, let alone published targets to bring delays down to an acceptable level. Where is the plan?

"We urge the government to put more resources into reducing the backlog, including setting concrete targets to ensure there is accountability as well as clarity. Ministers have gone missing in recent years; we hope the new justice secretary makes this a top priority."

The ACSO is a membership organisation whose aim is “to engage with policymakers, regulators, industry and the media to ensure a properly functioning, competitive and sustainable justice system for honest consumers”.

The MoJ report shows that there were 600 applications for judicial reviews in Q1 2023, up 8% on Q1 2022. Of the 97 cases in 2023 Q1 that have so far reached the permission stage, 14 (14%) were found to be ‘totally without merit’.

Adam Carey