Lawyers and consumer organisations have shone a spotlight on the dire need for investment in the civil justice system in recent weeks.
The latest civil justice statistics revealed that the mean time taken for small claims to go to trial was 50.6 weeks in the second quarter of the year; just two weeks less than the same period in 2023. Meanwhile the time taken for multi / fast track claims to go to trial increased by 1.2 weeks on average, to 79.3 weeks, over the same period.
Commenting on these latest statistics, Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations, said: ‘Although there are small improvements in some areas, we are still way behind where we were before the pandemic. It still takes a huge amount of time for the court to hear a case.
‘While all the media and political attention has understandably been focused in recent weeks on criminal justice, it is in civil justice, where most citizens access the law, where performance has been particularly dire in recent years.’
ACSO called on the new Ministry of Justice (MoJ) ministerial team to do the following:
- focus on civil justice, including providing new funding where needed, and putting new impetus behind the courts reform programme;
- adopt a range of models of dispute resolution, including new technologies where appropriate, working with the MoJ, Master of the Rolls, service providers and others to build public awareness of and trust in new methods;
- be more transparent on waiting times, court and tribunal processes and the implications of delays, cancellations and arcane processes;
- set clear targets for getting delays down; and
- work with stakeholders across the legal and claims sector to achieve a coordinated, consensual approach.
Maxwell Scott said:
‘We all want the same thing: a better deal for taxpayers. The new justice team need to get to grips with this issue urgently; if they want to make the biggest positive difference to the greatest number of people, improving access to justice for the thousands of consumers stuck in the civil system’s legal limbo would go a long way to restoring confidence.’
Meanwhile James Maxey, CEO of ACSO member Express Solicitors, added:
‘Claimants stuck in the UK civil justice system left waiting for their claims to be determined deserve much better.
‘Despite changes which forced the majority of claimants to use the Ministry of Justice’s digital service to bring their claims, the data shows that the time spent waiting for the claim to be allocated to a local court is unacceptable.
‘Unbelievably, part of the delay is caused by printing the claim documents off the digital platform onto paper and posting it out to the local court. The local court then has to confirm receipt of the court file and set a date for the CCMC hearing, but this takes time.;
Maxey added: ‘We have chased progress on claims where there has been radio silence, only to be told that the paper court file cannot be located and we have had to reconstitute the court file and send it to the local court for the claim to proceed. Calling the CNBC [Civil National Business Centre] is made as difficult as possible, with calls waiting over an hour. When the call is eventually answered we are often told that no information is available and simply wait to hear further from the court.
‘This is not an efficient system that is fit for purpose for use by our clients. One would hope that the incoming government will recognise the shortcomings and afford the civil justice system the urgent attention that it desperately needs.’
In a separate development this month, a new analysis of government spending published by the Bar Council highlighted that public funding for justice has seen a significant drop in real per person terms over recent years.
The report, ‘Justice short changed: Public funding of the justice system in England and Wales, 2009/10 to 2022/23’, calculated government spending on justice between 2009/10 and 2022/23, and analysed how this compares to other government departments and overall public spending.
According to the report’s key findings:
- Public funding for justice in England and Wales declined by 22.4% in real per person terms from 2009/10 to 2022/23
- Over this period the UK economy grew by 11.5% and overall government spending increased by 10.1% in real per person terms
- Funding for justice is 30.4% below where it would be if it had kept pace with UK inflation, population growth and the economy
- Funding for justice in 2022/23 was £181 per person – around 0.5% of GDP; it was less than the spend on defence (£820 per person), education (£1,550 per person) or transport (£640 per person). It is on a par with spending on overseas aid
- In order for justice spending to have been constant in real per person terms, an additional £2bn would have been needed to be spent in 2022/23. Within this period, total government spending was £1,154.9bn
- For justice to have kept pace with the economy, an additional £3.5bn would have needed to be spent in 2022/23
It is clear there is an urgent need for the new government to put greater focus – and financial resource – into the struggling civil justice system. But despite the efforts of legal and consumer organisations to draw attention to the problems, it remains to be seen whether civil justice will succeed in elbowing its way to the top of the new government’s packed priority list.
September 9, 2024 by Rachel Rothwell
Insights
