The latest Civil Justice Quarterly figures were published by the Ministry of Justice on 4 March 2022 and show that waiting times to get cases to court are at an all-time high. Despite a low number of civil justice claims in the last quarter of 2021, the time taken for both small claims and fast and multi-track claims to come to trial continues to increase exponentially.
The data shows that for small claims, the current waiting times are around 20 weeks longer than when there was a similar number of claims in 2014. Alongside this, waiting times are up 20 per cent since the equivalent period in 2019, meaning that court delays had already reached a tipping point before the pandemic.
Similarly, fast and multi-track trials cases have also seen the lowest waiting times since 2009, now totalling well over one year in waiting times.
Executive Director of ACSO, Matthew Maxwell Scott, said "The administration of justice promptly and fairly is a cornerstone of our values and democracy; it is not acceptable for ministers to shrug their shoulders and blame Covid while people have to wait a year or more for their case to come to court"
"The numbers are bad and getting worse, and each delay represents further challenge, cost and stress for claimants and defendants, who in some cases can find their lives on hold while the waits get ever longer.
"Civil justice is not just creaking, it is breaking after being hollowed out by more than a decade of cuts, and it is time for this government to redress the balance."
ACSO has urged the Justice Secretary to give urgent attention to reducing court delays, not least because most people who go to law use the civil courts and it is not right that they are currently being denied access to justice.