Court statistics (quarterly) – October to December 2011

Introduction

This bulletin presents National Statistics on activity in the county, family, magistrates’ and Crown courts of England and Wales. The figures give a summary overview of the volume of cases dealt with by these courts over time, with statistics also broken down for the main types of case involved. The statistics are used to monitor court workloads, to assist in the development of policy, and their subsequent monitoring and evaluation. This edition covers court activity during the quarter October to December of 2011.

Main findings

These statistics are used to monitor the type and volume of cases that are received and processed through the court system of England and Wales. The analyses in this report are mainly comparisons made between the latest quarter and the equivalent quarter of previous years. Seasonal variations affecting the workload of the courts may impact on comparisons with other periods. Because the figures for the latest quarter are provisional, the numbers and trends highlighted in the commentary may be subject to revision in the future.

County courts (non-family)

Civil (non family) cases in the county courts typically relate to debt, the repossession of property, personal injury and insolvency. Between 2008 and 2011 there were notable declines in claims issued, small claim hearings, trials, and applications for enforcement after a county court judgment has been obtained.

Key points

• There were 358,600 claims issued during the fourth quarter of 2011, nine per cent fewer than in the fourth quarter of 2010.

• The latest results continue the general decline in claims issued since 2008 (see Figure 1 below). This reduction is particularly evident among specified money claims, claims for the recovery of land and the return of goods, and total insolvency petitions.

• The general fall in repossession claims since the end of 2008 coincides with the introduction of the Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol (MPAP), which gives clear guidance on what the courts expect lenders and borrowers to have done prior to a claim being issued. It encourages more pre-action contact between lender and borrower and as such enables more efficient use of the court’s time and resources.

Only a small proportion of claims are defended, with defended cases that are not settled or withdrawn generally resulting in a small claim hearing or trial.

• 66,200 defences were made in the fourth quarter of 2011, eight per cent fewer than in the fourth quarter of 2010. This broadly reflects the 12 per cent fall in ’money’ claims, with the vast majority of defences being made to such claims.

• 8,800 small claim hearings took place in the fourth quarter of 2011, a decrease of eight per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2010. On average, small claim hearings occurred 30 weeks after the claim was originally made, the same as in the fourth quarter of 2010.

• 3,500 ‘fast track’ and ‘multi track’ trials were disposed of, a decrease of 18 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2010. On average, trials occurred 59 weeks after the claim was originally made, up from 55 weeks in the fourth quarter of 2010 and continuing the general upward trend seen since 2008.

Figure 1: Claims issued in the county courts, by type of case, England and Wales, Q1 2008 to Q4 2011

• 63,500 applications for enforcement of judgment amounts were made (via warrants of execution, attachment of earnings orders, third party debt orders and charging orders) during the fourth quarter of 2011, a 13 per cent decrease on the same period of the year before.

• 31,300 warrants of possession were issued, an increase of seven per cent on the equivalent quarter of 2010, with county court bailiffs making 13,900 repossessions of properties, a 16 per cent increase on the fourth quarter of 2010. 5,500 of the properties were on behalf of mortgage lenders, 12 per cent more than in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Family matters

Family cases deal with issues such as parental disputes, child protection cases, divorce and separation, and cases of domestic violence. After the rise in the number of applications and disposals for most of the family related court cases in the third quarter of 2011, numbers have returned to previous levels in the latest quarter (October-December 2011).

Key points

• There were 29,500 decrees absolute granted for the dissolution of marriage in the fourth quarter of 2011; a decrease of three per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.

• 5,000 domestic violence orders were made in the fourth quarter of 2011; a drop of 8 per cent on the 5,500 in the same period in the previous year. Domestic violence applications decreased 9 per cent to 4,700 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with the corresponding quarter in 2010.

• On matters affecting children, there were 7,200 children involved in public law applications made in the fourth quarter of 2011; a four per cent increase on the same period for 2010.

• A new compilation methodology has been introduced for the public and private law applications data for 2010.  Published statistics have been revised as a result. Please see Annex A for more details.

• There were 26,200 children involved in private law applications made in the fourth quarter of 2011; a nine per cent decrease.

Magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court

Nearly all criminal court cases start in a magistrates’ court, with the more serious offences passed on to the Crown Court.

Key points for the magistrates’ courts

• There were 422,800 criminal proceedings completed in magistrates’ courts in the fourth quarter of 2011, around six per cent fewer than in the same period of 2010. The trend in recent years has been a decreasing volume of completed criminal proceedings.

• 40,200 trials were recorded in magistrates’ courts, with 43 per cent recorded as effective. Rates of effective, cracked and ineffective trials in the magistrates’ courts have remained relatively stable during the last three years.

• The total value of fines paid in magistrates’ courts was £70 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with £68 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Key points for the Crown Court

• There were a total of 35,300 cases received in the Crown Court in the fourth quarter of 2011, a four per cent decrease on the number received in the fourth quarter of 2010.

• There were around 9,700 trial listings in the Crown Court in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 10,400 in the fourth quarter of 2010. Of these, 46 per cent were recorded as ‘effective’, with 39 per cent ‘cracked’ and 15 per cent ‘ineffective’.

Timeliness of criminal proceedings

This report also contains experimental statistics on the timeliness of criminal proceedings across both magistrates’ and Crown tiers of court.

Key points

For defendants whose cases finally completed in either a magistrates’ court or Crown Court during the fourth quarter of 2011, the average time taken between the dates an offence was committed and the completion for all criminal cases was 155 days. This is a three per cent increase compared to the same period in 2010.

• The average offence to completion time for indictable/triable either-way cases was 153 days, compared to 148 days for summary non-motoring cases and 165 days for summary motoring cases.

The ‘average waiting time’ refers to the average time between the date of sending or committal to the Crown Court and the start of the substantive Crown Court hearing.

• In the fourth quarter of 2011, the ‘average waiting time’, for defendants where a not guilty plea was entered, was 24 weeks (170 days), compared to 12 weeks (83 days) for defendants where a guilty plea was entered.

As Figure 2 shows, the timeliness of criminal proceedings varied based on the seriousness of the offence and the time taken to charge a defendant. Indictable cases are concerned with the most serious offences and are sent to the Crown Court for trial or sentencing after a short duration in the magistrates' courts. Triable either way cases are less serious than indictable cases and can be dealt with at either a magistrates' court or before a judge and jury at the Crown Court. As a result, indictable/triable either-way cases take a longer time from first listing to completion (68 days on average).

Summary offences are less serious cases and are usually dealt with at the magistrates’ court. A defendant is not usually entitled to trial by jury, so these cases take less court time (20 days on average), but it takes longer for summary cases before a charge or summons is brought (between 88 and 101 days on average).

Figure 2: Average time taken from offence to completion, for all defendants in completed criminal proceedings by offence type, England and Wales, Q4 2011

Revisions: The statistics for the fourth quarter of 2011 are provisional, and are therefore liable to revision to take account of any late amendments to the administrative databases from which these statistics are sourced. The standard process for revising the published statistics to account for these late amendments is as follows. An initial revision to the statistics for the latest quarter may be made when the next edition of this bulletin is published. Final figures for this quarter, and for other quarters in the same calendar year, will be published in the bulletin presenting the statistics for the first of the following year.

Also being published are detailed breakdowns of the headline court caseload and timeliness statistics for the third and fourth quarters of 2011, broken down by court or Local Justice Area. More information can be found on the Open Justice website.

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry's analytical professionals and production staff.