Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly, England and Wales
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 
 
 
July to September 2015  
 
Ministry of Justice 
Statistics bulletin 
 
 
 
 
Published 3 December 2015 
 
 
 

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
Contents  
Contents 
2 
Introduction 
3 
Key Findings 
5 
1: Civil (excluding family) cases 
6 
2: Judicial Reviews at the Administrative Court 
12 
Annex A: Planned upcoming changes to publication 
19 
Annex B: List of Accompanying Tables and CSV 
20 
Annex C: Timeline of changes to civil procedures 
21 
Annex C: Explanatory notes 
22 
Further information 
23 
Contacts 
24 
 2

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
Introduction 
This statistical bulletin presents statistics on two key areas of civil and 
administrative justice: 
 County court civil (non-family) cases that took place in England and 
Wales in July to September 2015; 
 Judicial review cases processed by the administrative court in 
England and Wales up to September 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, to 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.  
In this publication unspecified money claims have been split out to show 
how many of this type of claim are for personal injury, this is the first time 
this has been done. 
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.  
 
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 is scheduled to be published 
on 3 March 2016, covering the period October to December 2015. 
 3

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
 
 
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.  
Case timeliness  
 
In May 2015, we proposed a change to the presentation and calculation of 
case progression estimates included in this statistical bulletin and requested 
feedback from users on these proposals. 
 
A summary of user feedback is published in the following location; 
 
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/changes-to-moj-statistics-case-
progression 
 
All users that provided a response to the proposals agreed that the previous 
methodology, which purely used a statistical model, should be removed.  
 
Timeliness is already represented in the bulletin, showing how long it has 
taken (in weeks) on average to get to each stage in the relevant court 
process from the date when the claim was received. This applies to time 
from issue to allocation and the track to which the case was allocated and 
the time to hearing from for fast and multi-track claims. 
 
 
 4

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
Key Findings 
This report presents statistics on two areas of justice: civil (excluding family 
cases) and judicial reviews in England and Wales up to September 2015;  
Civil (excluding family) cases 
 In July to September 2015, courts dealt with around 397,000 claims 
made, there were also around 35,000 allocations, 67,000 defences and 
around 214,000 judgments. The number of claims courts dealt with 
decreased 3% on the same quarter last year, defences were up 1%, 
with allocations down 1% and judgments decreasing by 2%. 
 Although the quarterly judgment figures are volatile; the long term trend 
is in line with the number of claims. Annually, both claims and 
judgments fell between 2009 and 2012, there was an increase in 2014 
(up 24% on 2013) and 2015 to date is level to 2014 (figure 1.1).  
 In 2014, both the claimant and defendant had legal representation in 
52% of all defences (compared to 56% in 2013) whilst neither the 
defendant nor the claimant had representation in 27% of defences 
(compared to 21% in 2013). The defence of unspecified money claims 
account for 51% of all defences and in almost all such defences (97%) 
both sides were legally represented. 
 In the latest quarter 95% of unspecified money claims were for personal 
injury. 
 There was an average of 51.6 weeks between a fast or multi-track claim 
being issued and the claim going to trial in the third quarter this year, 
compared with 58.2 weeks in the same period last year.  
Judicial reviews at the Administrative Court 
 In the three quarters of this year (January to September) there were 
around 3,200 applications lodged at the Administrative Court, level with 
the same period last year.  
 
 93% of the applications lodged in 2014 have now closed. A higher 
proportion of cases became eligible for a final hearing, 20% compared 
with 10% of cases in 2013. Of the 790 cases in 2014 that were eligible 
for a final hearing to date, 315 have reached a decision. Of these, 169 
(4% of all cases lodged) were found in favour of the appellant.  
 From 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2015, around 26,000 cases were 
lodged and 16,000 (60%) had reached permission or oral renewal stage. 
Of those that had reached these stages, 26% were found to be totally 
without merit.  
 
 
 5

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
1: Civil (excluding family) 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 July to September 2015, a total of 397,002 claims were issued, a 
decrease of 3% compared to the same quarter in 2014 (See table 1.1 and 
figure 1.1). Mortgage and landlord possession claims continue to decrease, 
there were 6,911 less claims in Q3 2015 compared with Q3 2014, a 14% 
decrease.  
Annually, there was 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, with a slight increase in 2013 and a 
further increase to 1.6 million claims being made in 2014.   
In the most recent quarter, 81% of all claims were money claims this is level 
with the same quarter in 2014. In the current quarter, 89% of money claims 
(284,594) related to claims for specified amounts of money (tup 4% with the 
same quarter last year). The remaining money claims related to unspecified 
money claims, up 1% from Q3 last year (Table 1.2). 
Unspecified money claims include personal injury, a large proportion of 
these claims. During quarter three of this year 94% of unspecified money 
claims were for personal injury, compared to 95% in the same quarter 2014. 
This trend has been consistent since quarter 2 2012, when the County 
Court Money Claims Centre (CCMCC) took over the processing of the 
 6

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
money claims and more accurately recorded personal injury claims. (Table 
1.2). 
In July to September 2015, there were 76,390 non-money claims (down 4% 
on the same point in 2014). Annually, this figure dropped from an average of 
just under 400,000 between 2000 and 2008 to an average of just over 
330,000 between 2009 and 2013. In 2014 the number of non-money claims 
was reduced further to 317,530. This decrease can be partially explained by 
the fall in mortgage possession claims. 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 Protocol1 that encouraged more pre-action contact 
between lender and borrower (Table 1.2).  
There were 5,061 insolvency petitions2 (excluding in the Royal Courts of 
Justice) in July to September 2015. This shows an 18% decrease on the 
same quarter last year and remains within the general downward trend seen 
since 2009 (Table 1.2). The large decrease since 2009 has been steepest 
amongst bankruptcy petitions made by debtors, then among bankruptcy 
petitions made by creditors, and least severe among petitions for company 
windings up3. 
                                            
1 For more information on the Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol please see Annex B of the 
Mortgage and landlord possession statistics publication.   
2 Insolvency petitions relate to bankruptcy or companies “winding up” 
3 See the accompanying csv files for more information 
 7

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
Figure 1.1: Civil claims, defences, allocations and trials, January to 
March 2004 – July to September 2015  
 
 
Number of defences, allocations, trials and judgments  
In July to September 2015 provisional figures show 66,714 defences were 
made, 1% more than at the same quarter in the previous year. Looking over 
the longer term, there had been a general downward annual trend since the 
peak of just under 340,000 in 2007, with the 2013 figure being 227,942. 
Since 2013 the annual number of defences has increased very slightly to 
264,701 (1% increase on 2013).   
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 July to September 2015, a total 
of 34,960 allocations were made, a small decrease (2%) on the same period 
last year. (Table 1.3).  
 In the most recent quarter almost half of all allocations (16,813) were 
to the small claims track, level to the same quarter of 2014. This track 
is generally for cases with a claim value of up to £10,0004 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 who do not have representation 
by a solicitor or counsel, and are dealt with in about an hour.  
                                            
4 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.  
 8

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
 During quarter 3 of 2015, 40% (14,387) of claims were allocated to 
the fast track, a slight increase from the same quarter in 2014. 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.  
 11% (3,760) were allocated to the multi-track, 15% less than the 
same quarter of 2014. 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 the third quarter of this year, a total of 213,794 judgments were made, 4% 
less than in the same period last year. Annually, the number of judgments 
fell between 2009 and 2012, but has begun to show an increase in the last 
two years. Last year there were 828,007 judgments made, an increase of 
24% compared to 2013 (Table 1.4).  
Defended cases which are not settled or withdrawn generally result in a 
small claim trial (Table 1.5). In total, there were 12,586 trials in the third 
quarter of this year, an increase of 14% on the same quarter in last year.  
In July to September 2015, 8,975 small claims trials took place. On average, 
these occurred 32.2 weeks after the claim was originally made.  This is 
practically the same average time (32.3 weeks) as the previous quarter 
which was the longest average time to trial since data were collected in 
2000 - it steadily increased over time to a peak of 30.5 weeks in 2009 and 
then stabilised at 30 weeks between 2010 and 2013. In 2014, the annual 
average time increased to 31.5 weeks.  Fast and multi-track trials (of which 
there were 3,611 in the most recent quarter) occurred on average 51.6 
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, to 
an annual average of 56.8 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 been steadily falling since 2000, until 
the July to September quarter of last year, where it increased by 11% 
compared to the same period the previous year. There was a spike in the 
first (60,311) and second quarters of this year (74,609), a 10% and 54% 
increase respective on the same quarter of last year. During June to 
September this year there were 59,962 warrants issued a 5% decrease on 
the same quarter last year. 
Alternatively, various types of court orders can be obtained:  
 
attachment of earnings orders enable payment through the debtor’s 
employer. 
 9

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
 
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 the most recent quarter of this year, 27,473 enforcement orders were 
made, a decrease of 5% 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 for 2013 and 2014 in England and Wales. 
Figure 1.2: Number of civil defences and legal representation status, 
2013 and 2014 
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
180,000
Both Claimant and
defendant
Claimant only
Defendant only
Neither claimant
or defendant
No. of defences
2013
2014
 
Defences in 2014 were slightly higher than 2013, with over half of cases still 
having representation for both the claimant and defendant. For 2015 to 
date, this continues to be the case for the provisional figures.  
Provisional figures for last year show both the claimant and defendant had 
legal representation in 54% of defences (compared to 59% in 2013) whilst 
neither the respondent nor the claimant had representation in 20% of 
defences (compared with 19% in 2013). Defences with either the claimant 
 
10

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
or defendant only represented were 22% and 4% of all defences 
respectively, the same as last year.  
Figure 1.3: Proportion of civil defences, by type of case and legal 
representation status, England and Wales, 2014 
Fig
ure
 1.
3: 
Pro
por
ti
on 
of 
civ
il
 d
ef
en
ce
s, 
by
 ty
pe 
of
 c
ase
 an
d l
ega
l r
epr
ese
nta
tio
n st
atus, Englan
d and Wales
, 2014
Figure 1.3: Proportion of civil defences, by type of case and legal representation status, England and Wales, 2014
Figure 1.3: Proportion of civil defences, by type of case and legal representation status, England and Wales, 2014
Figure 1.3: Proportion of civil defences, by type of case and legal representation status, England and Wales, 2014
Figure 1.3: Proportion of civil defences, by type of case and legal representation status, England and Wales, 2014
 
 
Figure 1.3b Number and proportion of defences by type of defence 
claim, England and Wales, 2014 
 
  
All 
defences 
Specified 
money 
claims
Unspecified 
money 
claims
Mortgage 
and 
Landlord 
Possessions 
Other non-
money 
claims
Number of defences 
264,701 
 
137,808
109,844
16,992 
4,224
Proportion of 
defences 
100% 
59%
46%
7% 
2%
 
The second most common type of claim with a defence, unspecified money 
claims, accounts for less than half of all defences (46%) and in almost all 
defences of this type (97%), both the respondent and claimant had legal 
representation. For the other types of claim, 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. Provisional figures for Q3 this year are similar to 
previous quarters in 2014, with both parties legally represented in 54% of 
defended cases.  
 
11

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
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 has decreased slightly 
between 2013 and 2014. We will be carrying out further work to look in more 
detail at the emerging trends within these data. 
 
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:  
https://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 16,874 completed civil proceedings in the Magistrates’ Court in 
the third quarter of this year, an 8% 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.  
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 30 September 2015. 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 publication5.   
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 earlier data. 
                                            
5 Tribunal and Gender Recognition Certificate Statistics Quarterly: 
www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics 
 
12

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
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 2014 and also 2015, 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 Statistics6.   
Applications for permission to apply for Judicial Review  
So far this year (January to September 2015), there have been 3,223 
applications for judicial review, this indicates a similar trend to 2014 (where 
applications lodged totalled 4,064).  
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). 
This has since decreased back to the levels seen at the beginning of the 
time series.  
JR Civil (Immigration and Asylum) cases had been driving this increase, 
from 2,151 in 2000 to 13,130 in 2013. This type of judicial review accounted 
for half of all JRs in 2000 and 84% of all JRs in 2013. In 2014 this reduced 
back down to the proportions seen at the beginning of the time series, to 
47%. The recent decline seen is due to a change implemented7 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. Therefore the reduction in 
Immigration and Asylum JR cases seen above means a subsequent 
increase has been seen in Immigration and Asylum tribunals. In 2014 there 
were 16,001 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.  
There have been 1,764 Civil-Immigration and Asylum cases dealt with by 
the Administrative court so far in 2015 (January to September), of which 35 
were subsequently transferred to the UTIAC. 
 
 
                                            
6www.gov.uk/government/statistics/guide-to-civil-and-administrative-justice-statistics 
7 www.justice.gov.uk/courts/rcj-rolls-building/administrative-court/applying-for-judicial-review 
 
13

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
Figure 2.1: Annual Judicial Review Applications, by type8 calendar 
year 2000-2015 
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
(Q3)
Civil - Immigration and Asylum (I&A)
Civil - other
Criminal
Total
Total
Civil (I&A)
Civil ‐ other
Criminal
 
The trends in JR civil (other) and JR criminal cases are less prominent than 
civil (immigration and asylum). JR civil (Other) cases steadily rose from 
1,727 in 2000 to 2,191 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 268 cases in 2014. The 2015 period to September shows 180 
new cases for JR criminal and 1,279 for JR (civil) other.  
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 case9. 
The three main stages of the Judicial Review process once a case has been 
lodged are:  
                                            
8 This chart excludes a small number of cases that could not be allocated to a type 
9 For more information see the following guide:  
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/guide-to-civil-and-administrative-justice-statistics 
 
 
14

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
 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. Different case types can have different mean 
lengths of timeliness. For example, 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 stands at 55% in 2015 (January to September), these types of 
cases overall had a longer mean number of days, therefore overall mean 
timeliness will be longer the greater the proportion of these cases. 
Also, the case progression figures will change as time allows for more cases 
to progress through the system.  
Permission stage 
 In 2014 the number granted permission to proceed at the permission 
stage stood at 16% of all cases lodged. This increase compared to 2013 
(9%) is likely in part to be due to an increase in the proportion of all cases 
reaching the permission stage; 78% of cases lodged in 2014 compared 
with 54% of all lodged cases in 2013. Although there is a higher 
proportion of cases reaching the permission stage the volumes in 2014 
decreased, 3,179 in 2014 compared to 8,479 in 2013. 
 In 2015 (January to September) the proportion of all cases r reaching the 
permission stage was 62%, with 10% of all lodged cases so far being 
given permission to proceed. 
Oral renewals 
 During 2014, 12% of cases reached the oral stage, 93% of 2014 cases 
are now closed. Although this is an increase from 2013 (8% of cases), 
looking at the overall time series the number follows the general 
downward trend. The 2013 number includes a large number of 
immigration cases that are less likely to reach an oral hearing. In the first 
three quarters of 2015 (January to September) 5% of cases have 
reached the oral renewal stage, 60% of cases are now closed.   
 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 
 
15

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
of the Upper Tribunal. These claims end in this court if refused or are 
remitted back to the Upper Tribunal if permission granted. 
 For cases heard at the oral renewal stage in 2014, 3% of all cases lodged 
were granted permission to proceed. In the first three quarters of 2015 
(January to September) 173 cases have reached the oral renewal stage, 
of which 52 have 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. In the first three quarters (January to September) of 2015 this 
has dropped back down to 12%. 
 Of the applications lodged in 2015, 60 have so far reached the final 
hearing stage and 36 (60%) of these (1% of all cases lodged) were found 
in favour of the claimant. The total figure for 2014 was 315 cases 
reaching a final hearing. where 43% of these were in favour of the 
claimant, (3% of all cases lodged) and 54% in favour of the defendant 
(4% of all cases lodged) 
  
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 the 
ones that are shorter in length so the average will be lower than the true 
figure (93% of cases that were lodged in 2014 were classed as ‘Closed’, 
and only 60% of those lodged so far in 2015). 
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 120 days respectively; prior to this, the number was stable at 
approximately 65 days (from 2000-2005). For the 93% of the cases lodged 
in 2014 classed as closed, the figure is significantly lower at 78 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 226 days from 2009 to 2013. For the 93% of cases lodged in 
2014 classed as closed, the number has fallen to 144 days.  
 
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Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
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 340. For 2014 to date, this 
figure has fallen considerably to 195 days, though this is subject to change 
as unclosed cases progress through the system, (93% of cases in 2014 are 
so far closed).   
Figure 2.2: Average time taken for each stage of the Judicial Review 
process, 2000 to 20141 
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Time (days)
lodged to permission
Lodged to oral renewal
Lodged to final hearing
Final hearing
Oral renewal
Permission
 
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 2014. 
 
 
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. 
Totally without merit  
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 
 
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Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
JR’s 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 30 September 2015, there were 26,093 cases 
lodged. Of these 15,760 (60%) had reached permission or oral renewal 
stage at the time the data was extracted in September 2015. Of those that 
had reached these stages, 4,140 (26%) were found to be totally without 
merit. 
 
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Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
Annex A: Planned upcoming changes to publication 
There are currently no planned changes to the publication.  
 
 
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Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
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 - 2014, 
quarterly Q1 2009 – Q3 2015 
1.2 Number of claims issued in the county and magistrates' courts, by type 
of claim, England and Wales, annually 2000 - 2014, quarterly Q1 2009 – 
Q3 2015 
1.3 Claims defended and allocations to track, England and Wales, annually 
2000 – 2014, quarterly Q1 2009 – Q3 2015 
1.4 Case progression in the county courts, England and Wales, annually 
2009 - 2014, quarterly Q1 2009 – Q3 2015 
1.5 Number of trials and small claim hearings and the average time to reach 
trial/hearing, England and Wales, annually 2000 - 2014, quarterly Q1 
2009 – Q3 2015 
1.6 Number of defended claims by case type and details of legal 
representation, England and Wales, annually 2013 - 2014, quarterly Q1 
2013 – Q3 2015 
 
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 - Q3 2015 
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 - Q3 2015 
2.3 Timeliness (in days) of Judicial Review cases started at the 
Administrative Court, by staged reached, 2000 - Q3 2015  
2.4 Number of Judicial Reviews at the Administrative Court classed as 
‘Totally Without Merit’ between 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2015 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
 
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. 
 
 
 
 
 
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Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
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.  
 
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Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
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 
  
 
 
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 
www.courtsni.gov.uk/en-
GB/Publications/Targets_and_Performance/Pages/default.aspx
 
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Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly June to September 2015 
 
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 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Produced by the Ministry of Justice 
Alternative formats are available on request from 
xxx@xxx.xx 
 
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