These days, whenever the Ministry of Justice releases its statistics on the performance of our country courts, it always makes for depressing reading. But the stats released last week are even worse than usual.
According to the MoJ’s quarterly report for January to March this year, multi / fast track claims are now taking a massive 79.9 weeks to get to trial – a record length of delay. This is some 6.3 weeks longer than the same period in 2022, and a gobsmacking 21.4 weeks longer than in 2019.
Meanwhile the picture is not that much better for small claims, which are now taking 51.9 weeks to reach trial. This is a shocking 14.9 weeks longer than such claims were taking in 2019, pre-Covid.
What is behind these worsening delays? One factor will be the rise in money claims, which increased by 8% compared to last year, and – at 443,000 claims – are now at their highest level since the first quarter of 2020. But not all claims are on the rise. Damages claims actually fell by 10% compared to last year, to 23,000. This included an 8% fall in personal injury claims, to 17,000 – and of course we are all wondering when this drop will be reflected in our car insurance premiums. Overall, compared to the 2019 pre-covid baseline, total damages claims fell by some 29%.
The delays laid bare in these latest MoJ statistics have been rightly criticised by lawyers and consumer groups. Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO), ranted:
‘Our civil justice system is used by the vast majority of citizens when they need to access the law, yet it 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.’
Maxwell Scott said ACSO’s own research, conducted with Express Solicitors, found that the performance of some individual courts was ‘shocking’.
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.’
So essentially, court users are subject to a postcode lottery.
Maxwell Scott added that the MoJ’s own statistics underlined that there is ‘a very long road ahead to rescue our civil justice system’.
He urged 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,’ he pointedly remarked.
Maxwell Scott added: ‘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?’
An excellent question – and one that no doubt all litigators – and indeed their clients – would very much like to hear the answer to.
June 7, 2023
Insights
