On 4 June 2015, the Ministry of Justice published the quarterly court statistics for the period January to March 2015, and also appellate statistics for 2014. The report provides information on the type and number of cases dealt with in the civil (excluding family) and administrative courts. Key findings include:
- The number of claims continues on a downward trend. During the first quarter of 2015, the courts dealt with 393,000 claims, a decrease of 7% on the same quarter last year.
- Claims got to trial slightly faster than for the same period last year. There was an average of 55.0 weeks between a fast or multi-track claim being issued and the claim going to trial in the first quarter of 2015, compared with 55.6 weeks for the same period in 2014.
- 31,511 enforcement orders were made during the first quarter of 2015, a slight increase on the same period last year, but the general trend remains downward since 2000. Execution against goods remains the most favoured method of enforcement.
- 15,000 bills of costs were assessed in the Senior Courts Costs Office in 2014, an increase of 23% compared with 2013. 47% of these concerned receivers in the court of protection and 30% civil legal aid assessments.
- The overall caseload of the appellate court in 2014 was 18,000 cases, a decrease of 39% from 30,000 cases in 2013. This was largely due to the Upper Tribunal for Immigration and Asylum Chamber (UTIAC) taking over responsibility for the majority of Civil Immigration and Asylum Judicial Review in November 2013. 58% of appeals related to the High Court, and 42% to the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court had 25 cases.
