Small claims court delays: Claimants with money disputes wait 60 weeks on average

Plaintiffs seeking justice for their money issues must wait years for their claim to even make it to court as lawyers warn the system is “really broken.”

The delays mean agonizing wait times for road accident payouts from insurers, compensation for faulty goods, disputes between tenants and landlords, and more.

Most monetary claims are civil cases, not criminal cases, so are handled by one of the County Court’s three ‘tracks’: small claims, fast track and multi track.

Small claims are for disputes under £10,000, the fast track is for simple cases from £10,000 to £25,000 and the multi track is for cases of £25,000 and over.

The latest figures from the Department of Justice show that the handling time of a small claims case in the first three months of 2023 was 51.9 weeks, an increase of about one week over the same period in 2022.

For fast-track claims and multi-track claims, waiting times have increased to 79.9 weeks, 6.3 weeks more than in Q1 2022.

About 89 percent of this backlog consists of money and damages claims, according to the Justice Department.

Damian Bradley, a partner at the personal injury law firm Express Solicitors, said the longest wait his firm had seen was 1,336 days — more than three and a half years — for a case to reach its first hearing.

Bradley added that these delays could be catastrophic for claimants and increase their costs by thousands of pounds.

“One of our clients, who is in a wheelchair, has been asked by defendants to testify in person,” Bradley said.

His partner, who was heavily pregnant, had to push him out of the taxi and into court. He was then told his case might not be heard that day and blocked a security exit, so he had to wait outside for two and a half hours, and now that trial will not take place until 2024.

“He is in great financial stress. It’s a horrible example, but this is what happens. It can add thousands of pounds to the process that cannot be recovered. It can be very stressful, many have not been in court before and it seems like an ominous process for them. They have sleepless nights. The system is really broken.’

The Justice Department says the waiting times are due to a backlog of cases dating back to the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Government figures show that there were 20,177 full-time court employees before the pandemic. But after a spate of furloughs, many court employees quit and did not return. By 2021, the number of court employees had dropped to 16,714.

A spokesperson for HM Courts and Tribunals Service said: ‘The number of cases being heard in civil courts is at its highest level since the start of the pandemic thanks to our decisive action, such as opening additional courtrooms and facilitating hearings. at a distance.

“We are accelerating access to justice through the largest-ever county judge recruitment drive and digitizing more processes, while plans to increase the use of mediation will help more people resolve disputes without going to court in the first place. ‘

Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of the Association of Consumer Support Organisations, said: ‘Our civil justice system is used by the vast majority of citizens when they need access to the law, but it has become a Cinderella service after years of government cuts and ministers who took their eyes off the ball.

The latest data once again underlines just how badly justice has deteriorated, a point noted in the latest report from the World Justice Project, which found the UK has fallen from 13th to 20th in the ranking of countries with the most accessible and affordable civil justice system.’