Users of the civil courts system say there is still room for improvement despite a reduction in delays. The Ministry of Justice this week reported in its latest civil justice statistics bulletin, covering April to June, that the median time taken for fast/intermediate/multi track claims to go to trial was 55.9 weeks. That was more than six weeks less than the same period in 2025. 

However the time taken for small claims to go to trial was 41 weeks, 0.7 weeks longer than the year before.

The number of judgments issued rose by 26% to 368,000, with 94% of these being default judgments.

A total of 82,000 claims were defended, representing a rise of 15%, while the 12,000 claims going to trial was a fall of 10% from 2025.

The statistics will be welcomed by the Ministry of Justice which has earmarked improvements in the civil justice system as a key priority. In April 2025, justice minister Sarah Sackman MP said there were ‘huge challenges’ around delays and the backlog of cases in the county court.

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She told the Commons justice committee: ‘My ambition… is for interactions with civil justice to be similar to the way in which consumers interact with commercial entities or indeed the way in which people interact with the very best of our public services. Take the Passport Office, for example. You can apply for your passport online and pick it up a week or two later. If we can get to that sort of quality of service and delivery in the civil justice space, that would be a huge marker of success.’

The Consumer Legal Association said a fall in average waiting times for complex cases was welcome, but delays of more than a year were still not tolerable.

CLA chair David Whitmore said: ‘A median wait of 55.9 weeks still means people whose cases reach trial are waiting more than a year for justice, while small-claims waits have risen slightly compared with last year. For injured people, delay can hold up compensation, rehabilitation, treatment and adaptations. Further improvement is needed.’

The civil justice statistics also show that 26,000 damages claims were issued during the quarter, down 4% on the same period in 2025. This included 11,000 personal injury claims and 15,000 other damages claims, both also down 4%. This is in line with a long-term fall in personal injury claims, partly brought on by the creation of the portal for low-value RTA claims in 2021.

Whitmore added: ‘A decline in claim volumes is not the same thing as improved public safety or reduced need. Injured people usually have only three years from the injury, or from when they became aware of it, to bring a claim. 

‘If people are deterred by complexity, unable to obtain advice or simply unaware of their rights, they risk losing access to justice altogether. The focus should be on whether injured people can secure fair redress, not simply on whether fewer claims appear in the statistics.’