Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly – January to March 2016
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Civil Justice Statistics. The bulletin presents the latest statistics on the type and volume of civil, judicial review and privacy injunction cases that are received and processed through the justice system of England and Wales.

Civil Justice Statistics 
Quarterly, England and Wales 
(Incorporating The Royal 
Courts of Justice 2015)  
 
 
January to March 2016 
 
 
 
Ministry of Justice 
Statistics bulletin 
 
 
Published 2 June 2016 
 
 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 2 
Contents  
Contents 
2 
Introduction 
3 
Key Findings 
5 
1: Civil cases 
7 
2: Judicial Reviews at the Administrative Court 
14 
3: The Royal Courts of Justice 
21 
4: Offices of the Supreme Court 
27 
5: Magistrates (Justices of the Peace) 
28 
6: Assessment of litigation costs, and publicly funded legal services 30 
Annex A: Planned upcoming changes to publication 
31 
Annex B: List of Accompanying Tables and CSV 
32 
Annex C: Timeline of changes to civil procedures 
35 
Annex C: Explanatory notes 
36 
Further information 
37 
Contacts 
38 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 3 
Introduction 
This statistical bulletin presents statistics on three key areas of civil and 
administrative justice: 
 County court civil (non-family) cases that took place in England and 
Wales in January to March 2016; 
 Judicial review cases processed by the administrative court in 
England and Wales up to March 2016; 
 The Royal Courts of Justice cases processed by the high court, court 
of appeal, supreme court and the judicial committee of the privy 
council, up to December 2015; 
The figures give an overview of the volume of cases dealt with by these 
courts over time and are used to monitor court workloads, assist in the 
development of policy and their subsequent monitoring and evaluation.  
Civil cases are those that do not involve family matters or failure to pay 
council tax. These cases are mainly dealt with by county courts and typically 
relate to debt, the repossession of property, personal injury, the return of 
goods and insolvency. Particularly important, complex or substantial cases 
are instead dealt with in the High Court.  
Judicial reviews (JRs) are a process by which individuals, businesses and 
other affected parties can challenge the lawfulness of decisions or actions of 
the executive, including those of ministers, local authorities, other public 
bodies and those exercising public functions. It is a largely judge-developed 
procedure and can be characterised as the rule of law in action, providing a 
key mechanism for individuals to hold the executive to account. It is, 
however, intended to operate quickly and proportionately. Certain 
protections are in principle provided against spurious claims: only those with 
sufficient interest are able to bring a case and they must first obtain 
permission for their case to be heard.  
 
The Royal Courts of Justice chapter is published annually and covers 
figures up to 2015. It provides summary figures on the number cases in 
each of the appellate courts, as well as the high court and information on 
the judicial appointments and workload. It also provides information on the 
number of days sat by judges across all courts and court cost bills. We will 
be reviewing the coverage and relevance of the statistics over the coming 
year. 
At the time of publishing due to data quality concerns, the judges sitting 
days statistics (judiciary chapter) for 2015 were not available, these are 
expected to be published alongside the April to June 2016 publication. 
Every six months the Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly also includes a 
chapter on privacy injunctions. This will be available next in Civil Justice 
Statistics Quarterly April to June 2016, due to be published on 1 September 
2016. 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 4 
Information about the systems and data included in this publication can be 
found in ‘A Guide to Civil Court and Administrative Justice Statistics’ 
which is published alongside this report.  
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/guide-to-civil-and-administrative-justice-
statistics 
 
There is also a separate glossary published alongside this which provides 
brief definitions for the terms used in this report. Information regarding the 
symbols and conventions used in the bulletin are given in the explanatory 
notes section. 
Previous editions of Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly can be found here: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-justice-statistics-quarterly 
The next publication of Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly is scheduled to be 
published on 1 September 2016, covering the period April to June 2016. 
Users of the statistics 
The main users of these statistics are ministers and officials in central 
government responsible for developing policy with regards to civil and 
administrative justice. Other users include lawyers and academics, other 
central government departments such as the Department for Communities 
and Local Government, and non-governmental bodies, including various 
voluntary organisations with an interest in civil and administrative justice.  
 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 5 
Key Findings 
This report presents statistics on three areas of justice: civil (excluding 
family cases), judicial reviews in England and Wales up to March 2016 and 
the Royal Courts of Justice in 2015.  
Civil cases 
 In January to March 2016, courts dealt with around 437,000 claims, up 
10% on the same quarter in the previous year, driven entirely by an 
increase in specified money claims (up 16% over the same period).   
 There were also around 39,000 allocations and 71,000 defences - 
defences were up 9% and allocations remained level with January to 
March 2015. 
 Judgments fell between 2009 and 2012, but have since seen year on 
year increases with revised figures for 2015 showing an increase of 4% 
compared to the previous year. In January to March 2016, there were 
around 254,000 judgments, a 4% increase on the same quarter in 2015. 
 In January to March 2016, both the claimant and defendant had legal 
representation in 56% of all defences, similar to the same quarter last 
year. Neither the defendant nor the claimant had representation in 17% 
of defences (compared to 19% in the same quarter last year). Both 
claimant and defendant are more likely to have legal representation for 
unspecified money claims, where 97% of all claim defences have both 
parties represented. 
 There was an average of 51.9 weeks between a fast or multi-track claim 
being issued and the claim going to trial in January to March 2016, 
nearly three weeks quicker than the same period in the previous year. 
Small claims came to trial on average 32.2 weeks for trials in January to 
March 2016, a small decrease of 0.2 weeks on the same period in 2015.  
Judicial reviews at the Administrative Court 
 During the first quarter of 2016 there were around 1,180 applications 
lodged in the administrative court, a 12% increase on the same period of 
2015. 
 
 82% of the applications lodged in 2015 have now closed. A lower 
proportion of cases became eligible for a final hearing -16% compared 
with 20% of cases in 2014. Of the 734 cases in 2015 that were eligible 
for a final hearing, to date 198 have reached a decision. Of these, 88 
(2% of all cases lodged in 2015) were found in favour of the appellant.  
 From 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2016, around 29,000 cases were 
lodged and around 18,000 (62%) had reached permission or oral 
renewal stage. Of those that had reached these stages, 26% were found 
to be totally without merit.  

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 6 
 In 2015 there were 1,700 (36%) cases lodged against the Ministry of 
Justice. Of those lodged against the MoJ, 7% were granted permission 
to proceed to the final hearing stage, and 2% were found in favour of the 
appellant at final hearing. 
The Royal Courts of Justice 
 In 2015, the overall caseload of the Royal Courts of Justice was around 
18,000 cases, with the majority of these cases (58%) related to the High 
Court, followed by the Court of Appeal (42%). The Supreme Court 
accounted for 96 cases. 
 The overall caseload had decreased 40% from 30,000 in 2013 to around 
18,000 in 2014. This decline was due to a change implemented1 in 
November 2013, in which the Upper Tribunal for Immigration and 
Asylum Chamber (UTIAC) took over responsibility, from the High Court, 
for the majority of Civil Immigration and Asylum Judicial Review cases.  
Assessment of litigation costs, and publicly funded legal services 
 In 2015, 16,000 cost bills were assessed in the senior costs office, 5% 
higher than the number assessed in 2014, 46% of which were receivers’ 
costs in the court of protection and 33% civil legal aid assessments.  
                                            
1 www.justice.gov.uk/courts/rcj-rolls-building/administrative-court/applying-for-judicial-review 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 7 
1: Civil cases 
A civil claim against a person or a company (the defendant) starts when a 
person or company (the claimant) completes and submits a claim form to 
the county court. This can be done either in person or online (for money and 
possession claims only). A copy of the claim form along with a response 
pack is sent to (served on) the defendant who has 14 days to respond to the 
claim. For money claims, if the defendant disputes (defends) the claim (in 
full or part) and mediation fails, the case is allocated by a judge to one of 
three case-management tracks (small claims track (for claims with a value 
less that £10K), fast track or multi track). Allocated cases which are not 
settled or withdrawn generally result in a small claim hearing or trial. A 
judgment regarding the claim can be made at various stages of the process. 
There are various methods of enforcing a judgment through the county 
courts including warrants and charging orders. 
As supplementary information, we also provide the percentage of claims 
issued in a quarter or year that have already resulted in a defence, 
allocation or hearing or trial. Caution should be exercised when interpreting 
these figures for recent years. The information contained in the bulletin is 
based on the available data when the database was extracted; 
consequently a proportion of claims made in more recent quarters are still 
awaiting progression to the next stage of court action. Claims from earlier 
periods will have had longer for the case to be processed than those from 
more recent periods so a lower proportion of these earlier claims are likely 
to be still awaiting a defence, allocation or hearing or trial. 
Number of claims issued 
In January to March 2016, a total of 437,430 claims were issued, the 
highest quarterly total since 2009, and a 10% increase on the same quarter 
last year (See table 1.1 and figure 1.1). Annually, there had been a general 
downward trend in the total number of claims issued between 2006 and 
2012 from 2.1 million to a low of 1.4 million  – since then, the trend has 
reversed, showing increases in 2013 and 2014. Revised figures for 2015 
show this trend has once again reversed, with a slight decrease of 2% 
compared to 2014.   
In January to March 2016, 83% of all claims were money claims, an 
increase of three percentage points on the same quarter in 2015. Of these 
money claims, 90% (325,678) related to claims for specified amounts of 
money (two percentage points higher than the same quarter last year).  The 
sharp increase in the number of specified money claims (up 16% from the 
same quarter last year) has driven the increase seen in total claims this 
quarter. Contributing factors relating to this increase can be attributed to a 
seasonal peak in tax claims filed by HMRC in January to March 2016, and 
there was also an increase in the number of bulk cases being filed where 
previously paper cases had been processed – this allowed more claims to 
be filed in one go. The remaining 10% of money claims related to 
unspecified money claims, down two percentage points from the same 
quarter last year (Table 1.2). Of these claims, those relating to personal 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 8 
injury were down 3% on the first quarter of 2015, and those relating to other 
unspecified money were down 20%. 
Unspecified money claims include personal injury, which make up the 
overwhelming majority of these claims. During January to March 2016, 95% 
of unspecified money claims were for personal injury, compared to 94% in 
the same quarter in 2015. This trend has been consistent since the second 
quarter of 2012, when the County Court Money Claims Centre (CCMCC) 
took over the processing of the money claims and more accurately recorded 
personal injury claims. (Table 1.2). 
In January to March 2016, there were 74,549 non-money claims (down 5% 
on the same quarter in 2015). Annually, this figure dropped from an average 
of just under 400,000 between 2000 and 2008 to an average of just under 
329,000 between 2009 and 2014. In 2015 the number of non-money claims 
fell further to 299,104. This decrease can be partially explained by the fall in 
mortgage possession claims; there were 5,072 fewer claims in January to 
March 2016 compared with the same quarter in 2015, an 11% decrease. 
This coincided with lower interest rates, a proactive approach from 
mortgage lenders in managing consumers in financial difficulties, and 
various interventions, such as introduction of the Mortgage Pre-Action 
Protocol2 that encouraged more pre-action contact between lender and 
borrower (Table 1.2).  
There were 4,464 insolvency petitions3 (excluding in the Royal Courts of 
Justice) in January to March 2016. This shows a 20% decrease on the 
same quarter last year and remains in line with the general downward trend 
seen since 2009 (Table 1.2). The decrease since 2009 has been driven by 
falls in bankruptcy petitions made by debtors and bankruptcy petitions made 
by creditors, whilst petitions for company windings up4 have remained 
stable. 
                                            
2 For more information on mortgage and landlord possession statistics trends and the 
Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol please see Annex B of the Mortgage and landlord 
possession statistics publication.   
3 Insolvency petitions relate to bankruptcy or companies “winding up” 
4 See the accompanying csv files for more information 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 9 
Figure 1.1: Civil claims, defences, allocations and trials, 2009 – 
January to March 2016  
 
Number of defences, allocations, trials and judgments  
In January to March 2016, there were 71,284 defences made, 9% more 
than during the same quarter in 2015. Looking at the longer term, there has 
been a general downward annual trend since the peak of just under 340,000 
in 2007, with the 2014 figure being 264,701. Since 2014, the annual number 
of defences has remained stable, with 264,616 defences in 2015.   
For money claims, if the claim is defended, further information is usually 
provided by each of the parties, after which the case is allocated by a judge 
to one of three case-management tracks. In January to March 2016, a total 
of 38,774 allocations were made, no change from the same period last year 
(Table 1.3).  
 In January to March 2016, just under half of all allocations (17,511, or 
45%) were to the small claims track, three percentage points less 
than in the same quarter of 2015. This track is generally for cases 
with a claim value of up to £10,0005 which require less preparation by 
the parties involved than the more complex cases allocated to the 
fast or multi track. The trials are designed to be accessible to people 
                                            
5 On 1 April 2013 due to a policy change, the maximum claim value for cases allocated to 
the small claims track increased from £5,000 to £10,000.  

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
10
who do not have representation by a solicitor or counsel, and are 
dealt with in about an hour.  
 During January to March 2016, 45% (17,452) of claims were 
allocated to the fast track, an increase of four percentage points from 
the same quarter in 2015. This track is generally for cases with a 
claim value of between £10,000 and not more than £25,000, with 
issues not complex enough to merit more than a one day trial.  
 3,811 claims (10%) were allocated to the multi-track, compared with 
12% allocated to the multi-track on the same quarter of 2015. This 
track is generally for cases with a claim value exceeding £25,000 
with more complex issues. They generally last more than one day at 
trial.  
In January to March 2016, a total of 253,532 judgments were made, up 4% 
on the same period last year. Annually, the number of judgments fell 
between 2009 and 2012, but this has since begun to show an increase. In 
2015, there were 867,665 judgments made, an increase of 4% compared to 
2014 (Table 1.4).  
Defended cases which are not settled or withdrawn generally result in a trial 
(Table 1.5). In total, there were 13,123 trials (of all types) in January to 
March 2016, up 8% on the same quarter in 2015.  
In January to March 2016, 9,169 small claims trials took place, up four 
percent on the same quarter in 2015. On average, these trials occurred 32.0 
weeks after the claim was originally made. This is slightly less than the 
average time taken in January to March 2015 (32.2 weeks). 
Looking over the longer term, the average annual time taken to reach small 
claims trial steadily increased over time to a peak of 32.8 in 2014.  This has 
dropped slightly to 32.4 weeks in 2015. Fast and multi-track trials (of which 
there were 3,954 in January to March 2016, an increase of 17% on January 
to March 2015) occurred on average 51.9 weeks after the claim was 
originally made. The time between issue and the claim going to trial rose 
between 2008 and 2013 but has fallen in 2014 and 2015, to an annual 
average of 54.4 weeks (Table 1.5).    
Enforcement 
There are various methods of enforcing a judgment through the county 
courts. The most common method of enforcing a monetary judgment is the 
warrant of execution against a debtor’s goods. This is where, unless the 
amount owed is paid, items owned by the debtor can be recovered by a 
bailiff acting on behalf of the court and sold.  
The number of warrants issued has followed a generally decreasing trend 
since 2000, until mid-2014 to mid-2015 when numbers increased.  Since Q3 
2015, the number of warrants issued per quarter has remained relatively 
stable.  During January to March 2016, there were 58,488 warrants issued, 
representing a 3% decrease on the same quarter last year (Table 1.4).   

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
11
Alternatively, various types of court orders can be obtained:  
 
attachment of earnings orders enable payment through the debtor’s 
employer. 
 
third party debt orders enable payment by freezing and then seizing 
money owed by a third party to the debtor. 
 
Charging orders obtain security for the payment against the debtor’s 
assets. This may be followed by an order for sale which forces the 
sale of these assets.  
 
In January to March 2016, 24,749 enforcement orders were made, a 
decrease of 21% compared to the same period last year. This figure has 
been generally falling since 2008.  
Legal representation  
Figures on the legal representation of parties in civil (non family) related 
court cases are shown in Table 1.6. This gives the number of claims 
defended during each quarter, for mortgage and landlord possession, other 
non-money claims, specified money claims and unspecified money claims, 
according to whether the applicant(s), respondent(s), both, or neither had 
legal representation during the case.  
Figure 1.2 shows the number of defences broken down by representation 
status in England and Wales. 
Figure 1.2: Proportion of civil defences and legal representation 
status, 2013 – January to March 2016 
 
 
In 2015, both the claimant and defendant had legal representation in 58% of 
defences (compared to 54% in 2014) whilst neither the respondent nor the 
claimant had representation in 18% of defences (compared with 20% in 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
12
2014). Defences with either the claimant or defendant only represented 
were 20% and 4% of all defences respectively, compared to 22% and 4% 
respectively in 2014.  
During January to March 2016, a small drop of 3 percentage points against 
the previous quarter can be seen in the proportion of cases where both the 
claimant and defendant were represented, conversely the proportion of 
cases with only claimant being represented has increased by 3 percentage 
points over the same period. One factor leading to this change is likely to be 
the increase in the number of specified money as they are less likely to 
have representation on both sides. 
 
Figure 1.3: Proportion of civil defences, by type of case and legal 
representation status, England and Wales, January to March 2016 
56%
97%
28%
12%
64%
23%
2%
39%
34%
19%
4%
1%
6%
5%
8%
17%
0%
28%
49%
8%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
All defences
Unspecified money
claim
Specified money claim
Mortgage and landlord
possession
Other non money
Both Claimant and defendant
Claimant only
Defendant only
Neither claimant or defendant
 
In the most recent quarter (January to March 2016), both parties were 
legally represented in 56% of defended cases, down one percentage point 
on the equivalent quarter in 2015. Neither the defendant nor the claimant 
had representation in 17% of defences (compared to 19% in the same 
quarter last year). 
In almost all unspecified money claim defences (97%) both the respondent 
and claimant had legal representation. For the other types of defences, legal 
representation status was more evenly distributed, although mortgage and 
landlord possession defences were more likely to have no legal 
representation for either the respondent or the claimant.  
Changes to legal aid came into effect as of April 2013, and removed legal 
aid eligibility for some civil cases. Figures show that the proportion of 
defences with legal representation for both parties fell during 2013 until mid-
2014, but has increased steadily since then and into 2015 with levels of 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
13
legal representation almost back at the levels seen prior to the legal aid 
eligibility changes.  
 
The Legal Aid Agency (LAA - formerly the Legal Services Commission) 
collects statistics on those applying for legal aid, and figures on the number 
of applications received and certificates granted by various civil categories. 
These are published in their quarterly statistical report which can be found 
here:  
www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics  
Civil proceedings in the Magistrates’ Courts 
Magistrates’ courts deal with criminal and some civil cases, and cases are 
dealt with either by justices of the peace, who are unqualified and who are 
paid only expenses, or by District Judges who receive some payment. 
Magistrates can deal with a limited number of civil cases such as arrears of 
income tax, national insurance contributions, council tax or payments of 
child maintenance.  
There were 15,911 completed civil proceedings in the Magistrates’ Court in 
January to March 2016, a 4% increase on the same period last year (Table 
1.2). It should be noted that a proceeding can either relate to a single case 
or multiple cases, so the numbers of cases completed is greater than the 
number of completed proceedings.  

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
14
2: Judicial Reviews at the Administrative Court 
Judicial reviews (JRs) are a process by which individuals, businesses and 
other affected parties can challenge the lawfulness of decisions or actions of 
the Executive, including those of ministers, local authorities, other public 
bodies and those exercising public functions. It is a largely judge-developed 
procedure and can be characterised as the rule of law in action, providing a 
key mechanism for individuals to hold the Executive to account.  
This chapter tracks the progress of JRs lodged at the Administrative Court 
between 1 January 2000 and 31 March 2016. The figures presented in this 
chapter exclude Judicial Reviews that are dealt with by the Upper 
Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber (UTIAC), unless otherwise 
stated; however they are publicly available in a separate publication6.   
As the information included in this chapter has been extracted from a live 
database, all figures are refreshed each quarter and therefore there are 
minor revisions between the information presented here and in previous 
publications. 
Information for all years is provided in the supporting tables and CSV that 
accompany this publication. Please note for later years, cases may not have 
progressed to the end of the process, so the progression and timeliness 
figures for these cases should be treated with caution, in particular for 
applications lodged during the year 2015 and also 2016 to date, where a 
larger proportion of cases will not have been concluded. 
For more information on the Judicial Review process, including how topics 
are allocated to Immigration/Asylum and Other, please see the A Guide to 
Civil and Administrative Justice Statistics7.   
Applications for permission to apply for Judicial Review  
During the first quarter of 2016, there were 1,176 applications for judicial 
review. This number is in line with the overall trend seen in 2015, in which 
applications lodged totalled 4,679.The overall annual trend in judicial review 
applications received had been steadily increasing, with the exception of a 
dip in 2004. In 2000, there were 4,238 applications for permission to apply 
for a JR and by 2013, this had risen to an annual intake of 15,594 (over a 
threefold increase) (Table 2.1).  
JR Civil (Immigration and Asylum) cases had been driving this increase, up 
from 2,151 in 2000 to 13,129 in 2013. This type of judicial review accounted 
for half of all JRs in 2000 and 84% of all JRs in 2013 - this proportion fell to 
just under half (47%) in 2014. The sharp decrease seen in 2014 was due to 
                                            
6 Tribunal and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics 
7www.gov.uk/government/statistics/guide-to-civil-and-administrative-justice-statistics 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
15
a change implemented8 in November 2013, in which the Upper Tribunal for 
Immigration and Asylum Chamber (UTIAC) took over responsibility for the 
majority of Civil Immigration and Asylum Judicial Review cases. The 
reduction in Immigration and Asylum JR cases has resulted in a subsequent 
increase in Immigration and Asylum tribunal cases. In 2015, there were 
15,179 JR receipts at the UTIAC, giving a total number of JRs across the 
Administrative Court and UTIAC of around 20,000. More detailed figures on 
the number of JRs taking place in the UTIAC are published in the Tribunal 
and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly Publication. 
In January to March 2016, 59% of all JRs were Civil Immigration and 
Asylum cases and only 3 cases have been subsequently transferred to the 
UTIAC. 
 
Figure 2.1: Annual Judicial Review Applications, by type9 calendar 
year 2000-2015 
 
JR civil (other) cases steadily rose from 1,727 in 2000 to 2,192 in 2013. In 
2014 the figure fell to 1,904 a 13% decrease on the previous year. JR 
criminal cases remained fairly stable from 2000 to 2011, fluctuating between 
280-370 cases each year. In 2012 it reached a peak of 384 cases and has 
since fallen to 273 in 2013 and an all time low of 262 cases in 2015. In 
January to March 2016, there have been 61 new cases for JR criminal and 417 
for JR (civil) other. 
                                            
8 www.justice.gov.uk/courts/rcj-rolls-building/administrative-court/applying-for-judicial-review 
9 This chart excludes a small number of cases that could not be allocated to a type. 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
16
Case progression (Table 2.2) 
Once a judicial review has been lodged, it then progresses through the 
process until it is concluded; the time this process will take will be different 
for each case10. 
The three main stages of the Judicial Review process once a case has been 
lodged are:  
 Permission stage - where the Court’s permission is required for a 
claim for JR to proceed. This can be in the form of an oral or paper 
hearing.  
 Oral renewal stage - In cases where the Court refuses permission to 
proceed on the papers (either in full or in part); this is where the 
claimant requests that the decision be reconsidered at a hearing. 
 Final hearing – Where permission is granted for a case to proceed at 
either the permission or oral renewal stage, this is the point where 
cases are heard and a judgment is made. 
Please note, case progression figures can be affected by the case mix, 
which has changed over time and thus any previously observed trends 
should be viewed with caution. As an example different case types can have 
different mean lengths of timeliness. Civil judicial reviews for immigration 
and asylum rose from 51% of all cases in 2000 to 84% of all cases in 2013, 
47% in 2014 and 57% in 2015 - this type of case takes longer to complete, 
therefore overall mean timeliness will increase the greater proportion of 
these cases within the case mix. 
Also, the case progression figures will change each quarter as time allows 
for more cases to progress through the system.  
Permission stage 
 In 2000, 85% of judicial reviews lodged reached the permission stage 
and 29% were granted permission to proceed. These proportions have 
decreased gradually over time to an all-time low in 2013 of 54% JRs 
reaching permission stage and 9% being granted permission to proceed. 
Since the transfer of IA cases to the UTIAC the proportion reaching the 
permission stage has increased to 78% in 2014 and 77% in 2015. Those 
granted permission to proceed were 16% and 13% of cases lodged in 
2014 and 2015 respectively. 
 In January to March 2016, the proportion reaching the permission stage 
stood at 35%, with 4% to date being granted permission to proceed to 
date. 
                                            
10 For more information see the following guide:  
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/guide-to-civil-and-administrative-justice-statistics 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
17
Oral renewals 
 In 2000, 18% of all cases lodged were granted an oral renewal. This 
rose to 26% in 2001 and steadily fell to 14% in 2009. There was a slight 
increase to 17% in 2012, before falling to 12% in 2014 and decreasing to 
9% in 2015. A fee to renew the claim for an oral renewal (where 
previously there was no fee) was introduced in April 2014 which may 
have reduced the numbers. There are also a number of JRs that are not 
eligible for renewal if refused, or have permission granted – challenging 
decisions of the Upper Tribunal. These claims end in this court if refused 
or are remitted back to the Upper Tribunal if permission granted. 
 In terms of those granted an oral renewal in 2000, 4% of all cases 
lodged received an oral renewal and were granted permission to 
proceed. This proportion has remained essentially stable ever since, with 
a peak of 6% in 2001 and has been at 3% every year from 2008 to 2015, 
with the exception of 2013 (when the proportion was 2%). In January to 
March 2016, only 10 cases to date have reached the oral renewal stage, 
of which one has been granted permission to proceed.  
Final hearing  
 The proportion of cases eligible for a final hearing (granted permission to 
proceed at permission stage or oral renewal) has steadily reduced over 
time, from 33% in 2000 to 10% in 2013. The rate then increased to 20% 
in 2014, dropping back down to 16% during 2015. To date 4% of cases 
have been eligible for final hearing during January to March 2016. 
 The proportion of all cases lodged found in favour of the claimant at a 
final hearing has reduced from 12% in 2000 to a low of 1% in 2013, rising 
to 4% in 2014, and decreasing again to 2% in 2015. In January to March 
2016, only two cases to date have reached the final hearing phase, and 
one of these was found in favour of the claimant.   
Timeliness (figure 2.2 and table 2.3)  
Timeliness figures are based on the date the judicial review is lodged to the 
date of various stages of the process. It is not a measure of the time the 
Administrative Court takes to deal with a judicial review as it also includes 
time taken for parties to the JR to provide evidence and any adjournments 
or postponements requested. Caution must be taken when interpreting the 
most recent data, particularly that for 2014 and 2015, as not enough time 
has passed for all cases to reach each stage and those that have will be 
cases that are shorter in length - the average will therefore be lower than 
the true figure (96% of cases lodged in 2014 are classed as ‘Closed’, 
compared with 82% of cases lodged in 2015, and only 29% of those lodged 
so far in January to March 2016). 
The mean time taken from lodging a case to the permission stage decision 
has remained relatively stable between 2006 and 2013 where the number 
was 118 and 125 days respectively (reaching a low of 89 in 2008 and 2010); 
prior to this, the number was stable at approximately 65 days (from 2000-
2005). For those cases lodged in 2015 classed as closed (82% of cases 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
18
lodged), the figure is significantly lower at 62 days. This may be driven by 
the reduced caseload, due to most of the Immigration and Asylum cases 
moving to the UTIAC. 
The mean time taken from lodging a case to the oral renewal stage decision 
has fluctuated over the years. From 2000-2004, the average time was 130 
days. This increased rapidly to 209 days in 2005 and to a peak of 267 days 
in 2007. The figure then fell sharply to 180 days in 2008 before rising to an 
average of 228 days from 2009 to 2013. For those cases lodged in 2015 
classed as closed (82% of cases lodged), the number has fallen to 127 
days. 
The mean time taken from lodging a case to the final hearing decision 
showed a similar pattern; 205 days in 2000 peaking to 425 days in 2006 and 
fluctuating since then. The 2013 figure stood at 368, while the 2014 figure 
fell considerably to 245 days, though this is subject to change as unclosed 
cases progress through the system, (96% of cases in 2014 are so far 
closed).  For the 82% of cases lodged in 2015 classed as closed, the mean 
timeliness has fallen to 183 days. 
Figure 2.2: Average time taken for each stage of the Judicial Review 
process, 2000 to 20151 
 
1 The average time taken to reach each stage is calculated using only those cases that have reached the stage in 
question. Figures for later years will change in future publications as cases progress through the system, 
especially for cases lodged in 2015. 
Please note that the timeliness analysis includes cases that were 
transferred to the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber. 
These cases were effectively closed on the COINS database in November 
2013. 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
19
Totally without merit (Table 2.4) 
In refusing permission for judicial review, a judge can certify a case to be 
totally without merit (TWM). As part of the Government's reforms to judicial 
review procedures, for cases issued on or after 1st July 2013, a case 
refused permission and certified as totally without merit cannot be renewed 
at the oral renewal hearing stage. A claimant can however appeal against 
this decision, which would be dealt with at the Appeals Court (in criminal 
JRs, there is no appeal route from a refusal of permission if TWM). The 
outcomes of such cases are not recorded in these figures.  
From 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2016, there were 28,725 cases lodged. 
Of these, 17,765 (62%) had reached permission or oral renewal stage at the 
time the data was extracted in January 2016. Of those that had reached 
these stages, 4,574 (26%) were found to be totally without merit. 
Judicial reviews by defendant 
This section explores the progress of JRs lodged at the Administrative Court 
by the defendant type (individual government department or public body). 
The defendant type information is derived from the free text field ‘defendant 
name’ in the Administrative Court COINS database System, which is then 
grouped by type of defendant.  The defendant specified by the claimant on 
the claim form is inputted into the database; however as this is a manually 
typed field it is open to inputting errors and therefore the figures in this 
section should be used with caution. For more information see annex C. 
This section is published annually and covers the period from 2007 to 2015. 
In 2015, the Ministry of Justice was the department/public body with the 
largest number of JRs applications lodged against them, with 1,702 JR 
applications lodged against them, 36% of all applications lodged in that 
year. This was 15% more than the previous year (1,480 in 2014). Of those 
lodged against the MoJ, 118 applications (7% of total applications lodged 
against the MoJ) were granted permission to proceed to the final hearing 
stage, and of those 26 were found in favour of the appellant at final hearing 
(2% of the total applications lodged). 
The second largest defendant department in 2015 was the Home Office, 
with 1,551 cases (33% of all applications lodged in 2015), a 32% increase 
on 2014 (where 1,176 cases were lodged). The large reduction seen 
between 2013 and 2014 is due to the Upper Tribunal for Immigration and 
Asylum Chamber (UTIAC) taking over responsibility, from November 2013, 
for the majority of Civil Immigration and Asylum Judicial Review cases. 
Therefore the reduction in Home Office cases seen in the Administrative 
Court figures reported here is because the cases have moved to a different 
part of the justice system, rather than being an actual decline in the number 
of applications lodged.  More detailed figures on the number of JRs taking 
place in the UTIAC are published in the Tribunal and Gender Recognition 
Statistics Quarterly Publication.  
Local authorities had 795 applications lodged against them in 2015 (up 7% 
on 2014) and of which, 190 (24%) were given permission to proceed to final 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
20
hearing and 25 (3% of all applications lodged against LAs) were found in 
favour of the claimant at final hearing.  
The number of applications lodged against the remaining defendant types is 
relatively low, with the Police as the fourth largest at 88 claims against them 
in 2015, followed by HM Customs & Revenue with only 76 applications 
lodged.  
For the MoJ the figures are broken down further, into different areas of the 
department. This has shown that tribunals had the largest proportion of 
applications lodged against them, with 72% (1,217) of MoJ JRs in 2015 
being against a tribunal. This was 378 (45%) more tribunal applications 
when compared to 2014. 
 
 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
21
3: The Royal Courts of Justice 
There are various appeal courts that are administered by HM Courts and 
Tribunals Service (HMCTS): 
 The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council - the final Court of Appeal 
for 23 Commonwealth territories and four independent Republics within 
the Commonwealth. 
 The Supreme Court - the Supreme Court of Appeal in the United 
Kingdom, replacing the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords in 
October 2009. 
 The Court of Appeal - divided into the Criminal Division, which hears 
appeals from the Crown Court and Courts Martial, and the Civil Division, 
which hears appeals mainly against decisions in the High Court and 
county courts. 
 The High Court - has three Divisions, Chancery Division, Queen’s Bench 
Division and Family Division, each of which handles different types of 
civil work.  
For more information on the roles of these specialised courts please see the 
A Guide to Civil and Administrative Justice Statistics that was published 
alongside this publication. Please note the High Court also covers the 
Judicial Reviews which are explored in more detail in Chapter 2.  
In 2015, the overall caseload of the Royal Courts of Justice was 18,051 
cases; this is a slight decrease of 1% on the caseload in 2014 (18,311) 
which had fallen by 40% on the caseload in 2013 (30,069). The majority of 
these cases (58%) related to the High Court. This decline is due to a 
change implemented11 in November 2013, in which responsibility for the 
majority of Civil Immigration and Asylum judicial review cases were 
transferred from the Administrative Court (within the High Court) to the 
Upper Tribunal for Immigration and Asylum Chamber (UTIAC) .  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            
11 www.justice.gov.uk/courts/rcj-rolls-building/administrative-court/applying-for-judicial-
review 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
22
Figure 3.1: Royal Courts of Justice: Overall caseload, 2004-2015    
 
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council  
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has both a Commonwealth and 
a domestic jurisdiction. In its Commonwealth jurisdiction, which is by far the 
largest part of its work, it hears appeals from those independent 
Commonwealth countries which have retained the appeal to Her Majesty in 
Council or, in the case of Republics, to the Judicial Committee itself. It also 
hears appeals from the United Kingdom overseas territories12. There were 
52 appeals made to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 2015 and 
53 cases were disposed of during the same period. Of the appeals entered 
Trinidad & Tobago entered the most, with 28 appeals. 
The Supreme Court  
The UK Supreme Court (UKSC) is the final court of appeal in the United 
Kingdom. In the UKSC in 2015, 242 petitions for permission to appeal were 
presented, and 233 were disposed of, of which 153 (66%) were refused 
outright and the remainder (76) were allowed to proceed or withdrawn (4). 
(Tables 3.4 to 3.5). In the same year, 96 appeals were presented to the 
UKSC, 32 were dismissed, with 26 being allowed. Of the civil appeals 
presented from the Court of Appeal disposed of, 18 related to Judicial 
Reviews, 16 related to Practice and Procedure, and a further 8 to family.  
The Court of Appeal 
The Court of Appeal is divided into two Divisions, Criminal and Civil (Tables 
3.7 to 3.11). The Criminal Division hears appeals in criminal cases from the 
Crown Court.  The Civil Division hears appeals mainly against decisions of 
                                            
12 By agreement with the Sultan of Brunei, the Committee can hear appeals from the Brunei 
Court of Appeal, but in civil cases only, and gives its advice to the Sultan. 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
23
the High Court and county courts, and also of tribunals and certain other 
courts, such as the Patents Court.  
 Criminal Division 
During 2015, a total of 6,267 applications for leave to appeal were 
received, a 2% reduction on 2014, a continuing trend since 2008. Of 
these 1,517 (24%) were against conviction in the Crown Court and 4,444 
(71%) against the sentence imposed. There were 5,630 applications 
considered by a single judge in 2015 and of these 1,288 (23%) were 
granted.  
 Civil Division 
In 2015, there were 1,241 appeals were filed in the Court of Appeal on 
civil cases, a 2% decrease on the 1,269 in 2014.  Of these, 258 (21%) 
related to the Immigration and Asylum tribunal, 240 (19%) related to the 
Queen’s Bench Administrative Court; and 134 (11%) to the County 
Court. 
In the same year, 5,029 civil appeal applications were filed or set down, 
the highest number recorded since 1994, up 3% on 2014. Of those 
cases filed or set down last year, 91% (4,574) were disposed of, an 
increase of 8% on 2014.  
The High Court  
In England and Wales, civil justice is administered mainly by the High Court 
and county courts (Chapter 1), the former handling the more substantial and 
complex cases. The High Court is divided into three main Divisions: the 
Chancery Division, the Queen’s Bench Division and the Family Division 
(Tables 3.12 to 3.24). 
The core business of the Chancery Division is the resolution of disputes 
involving property in all its forms including commercial, business and 
intellectual property, competition disputes, taxation, and its traditional work 
relating to companies, partnerships, mortgages, insolvency, land and trusts. 
The Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court deals mainly with civil actions 
in contract and tort (civil wrongs) and also hears more specialist matters, 
such as applications for judicial review. It contains within it the Commercial 
Court and the Admiralty Court, which deals with shipping matters such as 
damage to cargo. It also administers the Technology and Construction 
Court which hears cases involving prolonged examination of technical 
issues, such as construction disputes. 
High court statistics relating to the family court are now published in the 
Family Court statistics bulletin. This can be found here: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
24
Bankruptcy Court  
Bankruptcy is where an individual is unable to pay his or her debts. 
Proceedings are started with a petition for bankruptcy. There were 5,432 
bankruptcy petitions applications files in the High Court in London last year, 
a decrease of 2% since 2014 (Table 3.16).  
Companies Court  
The Companies Court in London primarily deals with the compulsory 
liquidation of companies and other cases under the Insolvency Act 1986 
and the Companies Acts. Unlike an individual, a company cannot be made 
bankrupt, but may, because of insolvency or if there is some other reason it 
should cease to exist, be wound up instead (Table 3.17).  
There were 13,666 applications made in the Companies Court last year, a 
17% increase on 2014. Of the applications made last year a total of 4,554 
were filed for winding-up petitions. There were also 2,112 winding-up orders 
made and a further 2,386 winding-up orders dismissed or withdrawn.  
Queen’s Bench Division 
In 2015 there were 12,297 proceedings started in the Queen’s Bench 
Division (Tables 3.19 to 3.24). This represents a decrease of 6% from 2014. 
Of these 4,869 (40%) were issued at the Royal Courts of Justice in London 
and the remainder at the various High Court District Registries around the 
country.  
The 4,869 proceedings issued at the Royal Courts of Justice included 1,671 
relating to personal injury, (up 15% on 2014 and representing 34% of 
claims) and 870 related to clinical negligence (up 34% on 2914 and 
representing 18% of claims). Of those 4,869 proceedings issued at the 
Royal Courts of Justice, 54% had a claim value of over £50,000. This varied 
by type of proceeding, from 21% for Tort (e.g. nuisance, trespass, assault, 
wrongful arrest, etc.) to 73% for clinical negligence and personal injury 
proceedings.  
Actions are normally started by way of a claim or an originating summons.  
A claim is the most common method and is used, for example, when a claim 
is based on an allegation of fraud or a civil wrong; it informs defendants 
what is claimed against them. An originating summons is used in certain 
cases, such as applications under specific Acts; it outlines the nature of the 
case. 
If a defendant fails to respond to a claim, a claimant may be entitled to a 
judgment by default; there were 944 such judgments by default last year. 
If a defendant responds any of the following may result:  
o the claimant may discontinue the action; 
o the parties may reach agreement between themselves; 
o the court may decide that the defendant has no real defence to 
the action and gives summary judgment; or, 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
25
o a trial takes place, in some circumstances with a jury. 
Judgments of the Queen’s Bench Division may be enforced in many ways. 
By far the most common is the issuing of a writ of fieri facias (fi-fa). This 
directs the sheriff (the equivalent of the bailiff in the county courts) to seize, 
and if necessary, to sell the debtor’s goods to raise money to pay off the 
debt. There were 52,004 writs of fi-fa issued last year, an increase of 26% 
on 2014. 
Admiralty Court  
The Admiralty Court is part of the Queen’s Bench Division and deals with a 
range of naval cases such as ship collisions and damage to cargo (Tables 
3.25 to 3.27). There is one Admiralty Judge who hears all admiralty cases 
and a number of interlocutory cases. The Admiralty Marshal is responsible 
for the detention and sale of ships which are the subject of proceedings in 
the Admiralty Court. Last year 158 claims were issued in the Admiralty 
Court at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, a decrease of 21% on 2014.   
Commercial Court  
The Commercial Court is part of the Queen’s Bench Division and is largely 
concerned with disputes around contracts, insurance, carriage of cargo and 
the construction of ships (table 3.28). Other cases dealt with at the 
Commercial Court include banking, international credit, contracts relating to 
aircraft, the purchase and sale of commodities and the practice of arbitration 
and questions arising from arbitrations. Some 870 claims were issued last 
year, a decrease of 20% on 2014. A spike in claims was seen during March 
2015, these were submitted to avoid paying increased fees from April 2015 
onwards. There has been a subsequent decrease in claims since the fee 
increase.  
Technology and construction court 
Cases dealt with at the Technology and Construction Court include building 
and engineering disputes, computer litigation, professional negligence, sale 
of goods, valuation disputes, and questions arising from arbitrations and 
adjudications in building and engineering disputes. The court also deals with 
any cases from the Chancery Division or elsewhere within the Queen’s 
Bench Division which involve issues or questions which are technically 
complex, or for which trial by judges at the court is for any reason desirable 
(table 3.29). 
In 2015, a total of 437 claims were received in the Technology and 
Construction Court, an increase of 41 (9%) cases on 2014. In addition, 288 
claims were disposed of, an increase of 19 claims on the previous year.  
Administrative Court 
The Administrative Court is part of the High Court and has a supervisory 
and appellate jurisdiction, overseeing the legality of decisions and actions of 
inferior courts, tribunals, local authorities, Ministers of the Crown and other 
public bodies and officials (Tables 3.30 and 3.31.) The role of the 
Administrative court includes the processing of Judicial Reviews, which is 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
26
covered in more detail in Chapter 2. Therefore the following summary of the 
administrative court workload is excluding the JR cases  
In 2015, there were a total of 69 appeals received through the magistrates 
and crown courts (54 and 15 respectively), a 53% increase on 2014. Of 
those received in 2015, 53 were disposed of, and in 40% of cases, the 
appeals were allowed.  
In other areas of the administrative court (excluding judicial reviews) there 
were a total of 1,845 appeals and applications received, a small 3% 
decrease on 2014. Of these cases 760 were disposed of and 46% of these 
cases were allowed by the court. ‘Other statutory’ accounted for the highest 
number of appeals/application types, of which there were 1,615, down 2% 
from 2014. Statutory planning appeals/applications were level with 2014 at 
203 applications, and 99 of these applications (49%) were disposed of at 
the time of publishing. Of those disposed, 68% were dismissed by the court 
and only 31% were allowed.  
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
27
4: Offices of the Supreme Court 
Offices of the official solicitor and public trustee 
The Official Solicitor is a statutory office holder appointed by the Lord 
Chancellor under section 90 of the Senior Courts Act 1981.  
The Public Trustee (appointed under section 8 of the Public Trustee Act 
1906) acts as executor or administrator of estates and as the appointed 
trustee of settlements. The Public Trustee’s aim is to provide an effective 
executor and trustee service of last resort on a non-profit-making basis. 
(Table 4.1) 
During 2015, there were 8,038 new referrals to the offices of the official 
solicitor and public trustee; 2,930 were cases of litigation, a slight increase 
on 2014. The remaining new referrals (5,108) were for administrative, trusts 
and estates cases, an 8% increase on 2014. 1,332 referrals were for child 
abduction cases, a 10% increase on 2014. Reciprocal enforcement 
maintenance orders (REMO) and child trust funds both saw increases on 
2014, a 3% and 36% increase respectively. 
Tipstaff 
The duties of the Tipstaff are many and varied but, in broad practical terms, 
the Tipstaff is the enforcement officer for the High Court. The principal areas 
of specific duties emanate from the Queen’s Bench, Chancery and Family 
Divisions and involve issues of bankruptcy, insolvency, wardship, child 
abduction, contempt of court and many other miscellaneous orders which 
involve taking action to enforce, or prevent breach of, orders of the court.  
The single biggest area of work for the Tipstaff relates to Family Division 
cases involving missing or abducted children. The Tipstaff is responsible for 
executing warrants on a range of possible Orders in these circumstances, 
including a Collection Order (for the return of a child), a Location Order (for 
the whereabouts of a child to be discovered), a Passport Order (for the 
seizure of passports or other travel documents) and Port Alerts (to prevent a 
child being wrongfully removed from the UK). (Table 4.2) 
There were 540 new warrants of arrest issued in 2015, a slight decrease on 
2014.Child abduction alerts accounted for 469 (87%) of these new warrants. 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
28
5: Magistrates (Justices of the Peace) 
At the end of 2015/16 there were 19,338 Justices of the Peace (JPs), level 
with 2014/15 (Tables 5.4 to 5.5). Over the years there has been a decline in 
overall numbers, this has been as result of reduced recruitment (due to 
a reduction in the adult criminal court workload) combined with relatively 
consistent annual levels of resignations and retirements.  
 
The proportion of men and women JPs was equal up to 2008 but since 
2009 there have been slightly more women JPs than men. At the end of 
2015/16 53% of JPs were women. 
 
 
Figure 5.2: Justices of the Peace workforce, by gender, 2004 to 2015 
 
 
There were 668 new Justices of the Peace appointed in 2015/16, up 46% 
from 2014/15, the first increase in some years. In 2015/6, 53% of JPs 
appointed were women, down from 60% in 2014/15. 
 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
29
Figure 8.3: Justices of the Peace appointed, by gender, 2004/05 to 
2015/16 
 
 
For information on judicial appointments please see 
www.jac.judiciary.gov.uk/jac-official-statistics and for statistics on diversity of 
the current judiciary see www.judiciary.gov.uk/subject/judicial-diversity/ 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
30
6: Assessment of litigation costs, and publicly funded 
legal services 
 
Senior court costs office 
The senior court costs office deals with the detailed assessment of costs. 
This is the process of examining and if, necessary, reducing the bill of costs 
of a solicitor or litigant in person. The purpose of detailed assessment is to 
either determine how much costs a successful party in litigation is entitled to 
recover from his unsuccessful opponent, or in publicly funded cases to 
determine the amount which a solicitor or barrister is to be paid out of public 
funds, and finally under the Solicitors’ Act to determine how much a client 
should have to pay his solicitor.  (Table 6.1) 
In 2015, 15,943 assessments were received in the senior court costs office, 
an increase of 5% compared to 2014. Of these assessments, 46% were 
receivers’ costs in the court of protection and 33% were civil legal aid 
assessments. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
31
Annex A: Planned upcoming changes to publication 
There are currently no planned changes to the publication.  
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
32
Annex B: List of Accompanying Tables and CSV 
Accompanying this publication are the following tables: 
Chapter 1 - Civil Courts:  
1.1 County court activity, England and Wales, annually 2000 - 2016, 
quarterly Q1 2009 – Q1 2016 
1.2 Number of claims issued in the county and magistrates' courts, by type 
of claim, England and Wales, annually 2000 - 2016, quarterly Q1 2009 – 
Q1 2016 
1.3 Claims defended and allocations to track, England and Wales, annually 
2000 –  2016, quarterly Q1 2009 – Q1 2016 
1.4 Case progression in the county courts, England and Wales, annually 
2009 -  2016, quarterly Q1 2009 – Q1 2016 
1.5 Number of trials and small claim hearings and the average time to reach 
trial/hearing, England and Wales, annually 2000 - 2016, quarterly Q1 
2009 – Q1 2016 
1.6 Number of defended claims by case type and details of legal 
representation, England and Wales, annually 2013 - 2016, quarterly Q1 
2009 – Q1 2016 
 
Chapter 2 - Judicial Reviews in the Administrative Court: 
2.1 Number of case applications for permission to apply for Judicial Review 
by topic, at the Administrative Court, 2000 – Q1 2016 
2.2 Case Progression: number of Judicial Review cases that reach 
permission stage, oral renewal stage and final hearing by cases lodged, 
at the Administrative Court, 2000 – Q1 2016 
2.3 Timeliness (in days) of Judicial Review cases started at the 
Administrative Court, by staged reached, 2000 – Q1 2016 
2.4 Number of Judicial Reviews at the Administrative Court classed as 
‘Totally Without Merit’ between 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2016 
2.5 Number of Judicial Review applications lodged, granted permission to 
proceed to final hearing and found in favour of the claimant at final 
hearing, by defendant Department or Public Body, 2007 to 2015 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
33
Chapter 3 – The Royal Courts of Justice: 
3.1 Summary statistics on overall caseload, 1938 – 2015 
 
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 
3.2 Appeals entered and disposed of, 2003 – 2015 
3.3 Petitions for special leave to appeal heard, granted and refused, 2003 – 
2015 
Supreme Court 
3.4 Applications for permission to appeal presented and disposed of, 2009 – 
2015 
3.5 Appeals presented and disposed of, 2009 – 2015 
House of Lords and Supreme Court 
3.6 Civil appeals presented from the Court of Appeal, disposed of by 
judgment, by subject matter, 2003 – 2015 
Court of Appeal 
3.7 Applications for leave to appeal, by type and result, 1995 – 2015 
3.8 Results of appeals heard by full court, 1995 – 2015 
3.9 Final appeals filed and disposed of, showing court appealed from and 
results, 2003 -2015 
3.10 Interlocutory appeals filed and disposed of, showing court appealed 
from and results, 2003 – 2015 
3.11 Applications set down and disposed of, 1994 – 2015 
The High Court – Chancery Division 
3.12 Summary of proceedings started, 2003 – 2015 
3.13 Orders made by masters, enforcement issues and appointments 
before masters, London, 2003 – 2015 
3.14 Claims and originating proceedings issued in London by nature of 
proceedings, 2002 – 2015 
3.15 Cases listed in London disposed of, by listing type, 2003 – 2015 
3.16 Originating proceedings in Bankruptcy court, 2003 – 2015 
3.17 Summary of Companies Court proceedings, London, 2003 – 2015 
3.18 Appeals and special cases from inferior courts and tribunals set down 
and determined, showing subject matter and results, 2003 – 2015 
High Court – Queens Bench Division 
3.19 Summary statistics on proceedings started, 2003 – 2015 
3.20 Proceedings started, by nature and value of claim, 2003 – 2015 
3.21 Judgment without trial, by type and value of judgment, 2003 -2015 
3.22 Originating receipts and trials concluded in the year, 2005 – 2015 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
34
3.23 Interlocutory applications for masters in London, 2006 -2015 
3.24 Enforcement proceedings issued, 2011 – 2015 
Admiralty Court 
3.25 Summary statistics on admiralty proceedings, 2003 – 2015 
3.26 Admiralty claims issued by nature of action, 2003 – 2015 
3.27 Admiralty actions for trial in the High Court set down, tried or otherwise 
disposed of, 2003 -2015 
Commercial Court 
3.28 Claims issued showing nature and value of claim, 2009 -2015 
Technology and construction court 
3.29 Summary caseload statistics, 2003 – 2015 
High Court – Administrative Court 
3.30 Summary statistics on appeals by way of case stated, 2015 
3.31 Summary statistics on applications and appeals other than for Judicial 
Review or by way of case stated, 2015 
 
Chapter 4 - Offices of the Supreme Court 
4.1 Summary casework statistics, 2006 – 2015 
4.2 Casework statistics, 2010 – 2015 
 
Chapter 5 - The Judiciary and Magistracy 
5.1 Days sat by judge type, 2003 – 2015 
5.2 Days sat by judge type showing type of work dealt with, 2003 – 2015 
5.3 Days sat by HMCTS region, 2003 – 2015 
5.4 Justices of the Peace, by sex, 1978 – 2015 
5.5 Justices of the Peace appointed, by sex, xx-xxxx-xxxx 
 
Chapter 6- Assessment of litigation costs, and publicly funded legal 
services 
 
Senior Court Cost Office 
6.1 Number of costs bills assessed, by type of case giving rise to the bill, 
2003 – 2015 
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and Supreme Court of the United 
Kingdom 
6.2 Number of costs bills assessed and their total and average allowed 
values, 2003 - 2015 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
35
Annex C: Timeline of changes to civil procedures 
 Brooke reforms – April 2013, changed the value limits for money 
claims allocated to each track. 
 Jackson reforms – April 2013, changed the process for managing 
multi track claims. 
 Implementation of the tribunals, courts and enforcement act – April 
2014, various changes to the procedures for enforcement of 
judgments. 
 Single county court – April 2014, changed the way in which claims 
are issue 
 Introduction of secure data transfer (SDT) – November 2014, allowed 
customers issuing bulk claims to do so more easily 
 Fee enhancements, March 2015 – increased the fee required to 
issue money claims. 
 
 
 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
36
Annex C: Explanatory notes 
 
The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as 
National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration 
Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for 
Official Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the 
statistics: 
 meet identified user needs; 
 are well explained and readily accessible; 
 are produced according to sound methods, and 
 are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.  
Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics, it is a statutory 
requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed. 
Breakdowns of many of the summary figures presented in this bulletin, such 
as split by case type or by HMCTS area, are available in the comma 
separated value (csv) files that accompany this publication.  
In the civil section of the publication the terminology ‘hearings or trials’ had 
previously been used to describe civil claims reaching this stage.  We now 
use the term ‘trials’, as this is a more accurate reflection of what the figures 
represent. This does not change the historical or current figures reported.  
Data Quality and Revisions 
An initial revision to the statistics for the latest quarter may be made when 
the next edition of this bulletin is published. Further revisions may be made 
when the figures are reconciled at the end of the year. If revisions are 
needed in the subsequent year, these will be clearly annotated in the tables. 
Additional revisions have been made in this publication to the quarterly 
claims and defences figures for 2014. The claims figures have been revised 
to omit a small number of family cases, recently collected via the Civil Court 
Case Management system.  These figures will be incorporated into the 
Family Justice Statistics Quarterly publication.  
The Judicial Review figures are taken from the Administrative Court Office 
COINS database. As the Judicial Review figures are extracted from this live 
database, all figures are refreshed each quarter and there will be minor 
revisions between the new information presented in the latest bulletin and 
earlier data published. When analysing JRs by department the ‘defendant 
type’ variable is derived from the free text field ‘defendant name’ and is 
therefore open to inputting/human error and subject to correction by a Judge 
when determining the claim. The defendant name is grouped into 
department/public body where it is possible to identify and this is down to 
the interpretation of the analysts. Although we have checked and cleansed 
the data for publication, the quality of the information in this section is limited 
and should be used with caution.  

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
37
Symbols and conventions 
The following symbols have been used throughout the tables in this bulletin: 
..    
= Not applicable 
-   
= Between zero and two. Low numbers are suppressed to stop  
              individuals being identified  
(r) 
= Revised data 
(p) 
= Provisional data 
 
Further information 
Earlier editions of this publication can be found at: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-justice-statistics-quarterly 
 
Statistics on Tribunals (including Judicial Reviews dealt with by the UTIAC) 
can be found at: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics 
  
Statistics on the use of interpreters and translation services in courts and 
tribunals can be found at: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-the-use-of-language-
services-in-courts-and-tribunals  
 
Information on Civil County Court Mortgage and Landlord Possession 
Statistics can be found at: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-
statistics 
 
Information on publicly funded legal services is now published by the Legal 
Aid Agency and can be found here:  
www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics 
 
Information on civil justice in Scotland can be found here 
www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/civil-judicial-statistics/ 
Information on civil justice in Northern Ireland can be found here  
A detailed analysis of county court judgments by region produced by 
Registry Trust Ltd can be found at the link below. This data gives 
aggregated detail on judgments that have been made by the county courts 
and recorded on the judgments register. 
www.data.gov.uk/publisher/registry-trust-limited 
The total number of CCJs differs from that published in Civil Court Statistics 
Quarterly, because Registry Trust manually checks the details of each 
judgment. More detail on Registry Trust can be found at: www.registry-
trust.org.uk/                                           

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
 
38
Contacts 
Press enquiries on the contents of this bulletin should be directed to the 
MoJ or HMCTS press offices: 
Sebastian Walters  
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
Zoe Campbell 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx  
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice 
Statistics Analytical Services division of the MoJ: 
Alison Colquhoun 
Ministry of Justice 
102 Petty France 
London 
SW1H 9AJ 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
General enquiries about the statistics work of the MoJ can be emailed to 
xxx@xxx.xx 
General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available 
from  
statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© Crown copyright 
Produced by the Ministry of Justice 
Alternative formats are available on request from 
xxx@xxx.xx