The government has hailed new figures showing delays coming down in the county court as a sign that its justice plans are starting to work.
Figures for the period between April and June show the median time taken for small claims to go to trial was 40.6 weeks – around two and a half weeks less than the same period in 2024.
For more complex claims, the average wait for a court date was down by 5.4 weeks to 62 weeks.
This was despite new claims rising by 23% to 512,000 during the latest quarter and the number being defending rising by 13% to 12,000. The reduction in delays reverses a trend seen for several years of civil cases taking longer to come to court.
Courts minister Sarah Sackman said the government had recruited around 1,000 judges and tribunal members and increased the number of remote hearings.
‘We inherited a courts system in crisis with people stuck in limbo, waiting for their cases to be heard,’ said Sackman. ‘This data shows promising progress. Claims are passing through the county courts more quickly and disputes are being resolved sooner so people can get on with what matters most in their lives. This shows our reforms are working.’
The government has allocated £148.5m to court capital maintenance and project funding in 2025/26, up from £120m.
Asked in a recent parliamentary question about upgrades to court buildings in the Tees Valley, Sackman said that this year HMCTS has so far completed upgrades to the security systems, fire systems and lift alarm systems at Teesside Justice Centre, as well upgrades to the lift alarm system at Teesside Combined Court. Redecoration, new carpeting and updated furnishing have been finished at Darlington County Court, Darlington Magistrates’ Court, Teesside Justice Centre and Teesside Combined Court.
HMCTS is also exploring the cost and feasibility of a new heating system at Darlington Magistrates Court and is considering replacing windows and exterior cladding at Teesside Justice Centre.
But critics say that while the new figures showing delays coming down are welcome, they mask vast differences between different regions.
The Association of Consumer Support Organisations pointed out that trial waiting times are still higher than in the last equivalent period before the pandemic. The trade body’s executive director Matthew Maxwell-Scott said: ‘While some progress appears to be being made, the numbers are still far worse than before the pandemic, let alone a decade ago.’
A breakdown of court delays by claimant firm Express Solicitors shows that much of the average improvement is down to waiting times falling significantly in London.
Damian Bradley, partner at Express Solicitors, said: ‘A postcode lottery still applies to our civil courts, with the data showing a wide variance in delays from 1,004 days in Hastings, Kent, to 82 days in St. Helens. If a claimant’s case is transferred to Hastings, they may have to wait almost three years for their case to be heard by a judge, which is simply untenable.’
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