Accredited official statistics

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly: April to June 2025

Published 4 September 2025

Applies to England and Wales

1. Main Points

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Increase in County Court claims, driven mostly by money claims	Compared to the same period in 2024, County Court claims from April to June 2025 were up 23% to 512,000. Of these, 438,000 (85%) were money claims (up 28%).
Damages claims were up 17% to 27,000	The increase in damages claims was driven by a rise in other damages claims (up 120% to 16,000) compared to the same quarter in 2024.
The number of claims defended increased compared to the same period in 2024, while the number of trials decreased	There were 72,000 claims defended (up 13%) and 12,000 claims that went to trial in April to June 2025 (down 1%) compared to the same quarter in 2024.
Median time taken from claim to hearing has fallen for all tracks	The median time taken for small claims to go to trial was 40.6 weeks in April to June 2025, 2.4 weeks faster than the same period in 2024. The median time taken for fast/intermediate/multi track claims to go to trial was 5.4 weeks faster over the same period, at 62.0 weeks in the current quarter.
Judgments were up 22% and default judgments were up 23%	Judgments were up 22% (to 292,000) in April to June 2025, compared to the same period in 2024; with 93% of these being default judgments.
Enforcement applications fell to 10,000 while orders remained stable at 9,900	Enforcement applications were down 26%, and enforcement orders were stable in April to June 2025 when compared to the same quarter in 2024.
Warrants issued decreased to 56,000	Warrants issued were down 11% when compared to the same quarter in 2024, and the lowest quarterly figure since Q2 2021.
940 judicial review applications	There were 940 applications for Judicial Reviews in Q2 2025, up 10% on Q2 2024, and the highest level since Q4 2018.
There were ten applications for interim privacy injunction proceedings in the first half of 2025	There were six proceedings on whether to continue or amend an interim injunction, and one proceeding on whether to issue a final permanent injunction.

This publication gives civil county court and judicial review statistics for the latest quarter (April to June 2025), compared to the same quarter in 2024. Should users wish to compare against earlier time periods, they can do so using the accompanying statistical tables.

This quarter’s publication also includes data on Privacy Injunctions considered during the first half of 2025. For more details, please see the supporting document.

Statistics on the Business and Property Court for England and Wales have also been published alongside this quarterly bulletin as Official Statistics. For technical detail, please refer to the accompanying support document.

A visualisation tool that provides further breakdowns of the civil county court cases in a web-based application can be found here. For general feedback on the tool and related content of this publication, please contact us at: CAJS@justice.gov.uk

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2. Statistician’s comment

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Claims received in the county courts and the number of claims defended both increased this quarter, rising to the highest level since Q3 2019 and Q1 2020 respectively. In contrast, warrants issued and enforcement-related order applications decreased over the same period, falling to the lowest level since Q2 2021 and Q3 2020 respectively.

The median average time between issue and trial for small track claims and fast/intermediate/multi track claims decreased this quarter, at 2.4 and 5.4 weeks faster respectively compared to the same quarter in 2024.

There were 10 applications for new interim privacy injunctions in the High Court between January to June 2025, details of which are included this quarter. Eight of the proceedings were granted and the remaining two proceedings were refused.

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3. Claims Summary

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County court claims were up 23% on the same quarter of 2024 to the highest level since Q3 2019, driven mostly by money claims.

Non-money claim volumes were at 48,000, down 5% when compared to the same quarter in 2024.

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Figure 1: Quarterly County Court claims by type, Q2 (April to June) 2020 to Q2 (April to June) 2025 (Source: table 1.2)

In the most recent quarter, total claims were up 23% compared to the same period in 2024 (from 415,000 to 512,000). Of these, 465,000 were money and damages claims, up 27% from April to June 2024 (from 365,000). Money and damages claims made up 91% of all claims in April to June 2025, up 3pp on its share in April to June 2024.

Non-money claims generally decreased between 2015 and Q1 2020. Following a sharp drop in Q2 2020 due to Covid19, these volumes rose gradually from Q3 2020 to a high of 52,000 in Q3 2024. In the current quarter, these claims were down 5% (from 50,000 to 48,000) compared to the same period in 2024, driven by decreases in Mortgage and Landlord Possession claims, claims for return of goods and other non-money claims.

Within non-money claims, ‘other’ non-money claims showed a general decline from 2018. However, since Q2 2022, these have remained relatively stable, down 6% (from 18,000 to 16,000) compared to the same period in 2024. The previous decreases were likely to be partly the result of whiplash reforms reducing the volume of road traffic accident claims going to court.

Similarly, Mortgage and Landlord Possession claims have followed a long term downward trend decreasing from a peak of 60,000 in January to March 2014 to 29,000 in the same period in 2020. Following the impact of Covid-19, when it fell to 3,200, the lowest recorded, volumes increased gradually to 30,000 claims in January to March 2024. Since the beginning of 2024, these have remained relatively stable with 29,000 claims recorded in April to June 2025, down 3% compared to the same quarter of 2024 (30,000 claims). Further details can be found in the Mortgage and Landlord Possessions publication here.

Claims for return of goods increased steadily to a high of 3,500 in July-September 2018 but have since declined. Following a further decline due to the impact of Covid-19 to 700 in Q2 2020, there has been recovery in these figures and volumes have remained relatively stable since Q1 2022, around pre-covid levels, although there is some quarterly volatility within this series. This quarter, volumes are down 15% (from 2,800 to 2,400) compared to the same period in 2024.

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4. Money and Damages Claims^{[footnote 1]}

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Money claims were up 28% (to 438,000 claims) in April to June 2025 compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Damages claims^{[footnote 2]} were up 17% at 27,000 driven by an increase in other damages claims (up 120%) to 16,000 compared to the same quarter in 2024.

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Figure 2: Money claims by monetary value, Q2 (April to June) 2020 to Q2 (April to June) 2025 (Source: civil workload CSV^{[footnote 3]})

Almost all (over 99%) money claims are processed and issued at the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC)^{[footnote 4]}. There were 436,000 such claims at the CNBC in April to June 2025 (up 28% on the same quarter in 2024).

There were increases seen across all money bands over this period. The increase in the volume of money claims was mostly driven by claims valued under £500, up 37% to 202,000, claims between £500 and £1,000, up 36% to 68,000, and claims between £1,000 and £3,000, up 23% to 96,000.

Other than in Q2 2020, damages claims – made up of personal injury and other damages claims - have fluctuated between 21,000 and 38,000 claims each quarter over the last five years (since April to June 2020). In the current quarter, volumes were up 17% to 27,000 compared to the same period in 2024. This was driven by an increase in other damages claims, up 120% from 7,100 to 16,000. Other damages claims volumes can be prone to volatility. Other damages claims accounted for 58% of all damages claims in the most recent quarter, up 27pp compared to April to June 2024, when they accounted for 31% of all damages claims. These claims have increased, due to claims issued for limitation purposes following the introduction of the Pre-Action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims. This is for claims arising from an accident on or after 31 May 2021 which are below the Small Claims Limit in Road Traffic Accidents. The limitation period for these claims is three years and, as such, limitation claims have been received from the 1 June 2024 onwards.

Personal injury claims^{[footnote 2]} showed general decreases between Q4 2020 and Q1 2022 but have remained relatively stable since Q4 2022. The decreasing trend is likely to have been due to a combination of factors including the introduction of whiplash reforms (with some cases being processed via the online portal rather than going to court).

4.1 Allocations (table 1.3)

In April to June 2025, 33,000 money and damages claims were allocated to track, down 3% (from 34,000) compared to the same period in 2024. Compared to April to June 2024, of these allocations:

• 22,000 were allocated to small claims, down 7% on April to June 2024. This accounts for 66% of all allocations (compared to 69% of all allocations in the same quarter of 2024);
• 8,700 were allocated to fast track, up 1% on April to June 2024. This accounts for 27% of all allocations (compared to 25% of all allocations in the same quarter of 2024);
• 620 were allocated to intermediate track. This accounts for 2% of all allocations, although these are expected to increase as the new track is embedded;
• 1,800 were allocated to multi-track, down 4% on April to June 2024. This accounts for 6% of all allocations (unchanged compared to the same quarter of 2024);

In October 2023, the extension of Fixed Recoverable Costs saw the introduction of a new Intermediate track which sits between the Fast and Multi track. The Intermediate track is the normal track for claims valued between £25,000 and £100,000, with some exemptions^{[footnote 5]}. The track applies to both money and damages claims and introduces fixed recoverable costs to claims in this track which would previously have been allocated to the multi-track. This data has been added to the publication from Q3 2024 as volumes increased enough to make reporting non-disclosive.

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5. Defences (including legal representation) and Trials

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The number of claims defended was up 13% to 72,000 compared to the same quarter in 2024, the highest level since Q1 2020.

The number of trials was down 1% to 12,000 compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Median average time taken for small claims was 40.6 weeks (2.4 weeks faster compared to the same quarter in 2024) and for fast, intermediate and multi track claims it was 62.0 weeks (5.4 weeks faster than April to June 2024).

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Of those claims defended in April to June 2025, 43% had legal representation for both claimant and defendant, 39% had representation for claimant only, and 3% for defendant only. Most (86%) damages claim defences had legal representation for both the defendant and claimant, compared with 32% of money claim defences.

Figure 3: Proportion of legal representation for each type of defence, April to June 2025 (Source: table 1.6)

The total number of claims defended was up 13% in April to June 2025 compared to the same quarter in 2024, from 64,000 to 72,000 cases. This rise in defences follows the increase in claims received over this period. Money claim defences were up 23% from 41,000 to 51,000 compared to April to June 2024. On the contrary, a decrease was seen in defended damages claims (down 7% from 16,000 to 15,000).

5.1 Trials and Time Taken to Reach Trial (table 1.5)

Median average timeliness has been added to the publication in Q2 2025 as a more accurate indicator of the typical time taken to process cases. As shown in Figure 4 below, median figures are generally considerably lower than mean figures, demonstrating that progression from claim issued to successive stages can be skewed by outlying longer cases.

Defended cases which are not settled or withdrawn, generally result in a trial. In total, there were 12,000 trials in April to June 2025, down 1% compared to the same period in 2024. Of the claims that went to trial, 9,400 (76%) were small claims trials (down 4% compared to the same quarter in 2024) and 3,000 (24%) were fast, intermediate and multi-track trials (up 8% from the same quarter of 2024).

Timeliness data for the intermediate track has been included with the Fast and Multi track trials data from Q3 2024.

Figure 4: Average (mean/median) number of weeks from claim being issued to initial hearing date, Q2 (April to June) 2020 to Q2 (April to June) 2025 (Source: table 1.5)

In April to June 2025, it took a median time of 40.6 weeks between a small claim being issued and the claim going to trial, 2.4 weeks faster than the same period in 2024. The Timeliness metric for Small Claims only includes those cases concluding at trial rather than those concluded through other routes like mediation. There is regional variation within this metric with longer waiting times experienced in London and the South East.

Mediation is being fully integrated as a key step in the court process for small civil claims valued up to £10,000. This, when successful, results in outcomes which are not used within the timeliness calculations. Statistics on small claims mediation can be found here.

For fast/intermediate/multi track claims, it took a median time of 62.0 weeks to reach a trial, 5.4 weeks faster than in April to June 2024.

Covid-19 and associated actions led to an uptick in time taken for all claims to reach trial. Prior to this, a sustained period of increasing receipts had increased the time taken to hear civil cases and caused delays to case progression.

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6. Judgments

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Judgments were up 22% compared to the same quarter in 2024.

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Figure 5: All claims, judgments and default judgments, Q2 (April to June) 2020 to Q2 (April to June) 2025 (Source: tables 1.2 and 1.4)

There were 292,000 judgments made in April to June 2025, up 22% compared to the same quarter of 2024. Of these, 93% were default judgments, up 1pp on its share in April to June 2024. These have remained relatively stable since 2018, with around 9 out of every 10 judgments resulting in a default judgment.

The second largest type of judgment was ‘admissions’^{[footnote 6]}, of which there were 12,000 in April to June 2025, up 15% on the same quarter in 2024 (from 10,000). ‘Admission’ judgments accounted for 4% of all judgments.

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7. Warrants and Enforcements

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Warrants issued were down 11% when compared to the same quarter in 2024 to the lowest level since Q2 2021.

Enforcement applications were down 26% to the lowest level since Q3 2020 and enforcement orders were stable when compared to April to June 2024.

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Figure 6: Warrants and enforcements issued – Q2 (April to June) 2020 to Q2 (April to June) 2025 (Source: tables 1.7 and 1.8)

7.1 Warrants (table 1.7)

In the latest quarter (April to June 2025) there were 56,000 warrants issued, down 11% (from 63,000) on the same quarter in 2024 and the lowest since Q2 2021. Warrants of control accounted for 74% of total warrants, and were down 14%, from 48,000 to 41,000, compared to the same period in 2024. These volumes are largely driven by bulk user behaviour and as such can fluctuate significantly.

There were 14,000 possession warrants issued in April to June 2025, down 2% (from 15,000) on the same quarter in 2024. These had a general upwards trend from Q3 2020, following a sharp drop in Q2 2020 due to the impact of Covid-19, yet have remained relatively stable since the start of 2024.

7.2 Enforcements (table 1.8)

In April to June 2025, there were 10,000 enforcement-related order applications (which include attachment of earnings orders, charging orders, third party debt orders, administration orders, and orders to obtain information), down 26% compared to the same quarter of 2024. Attachment of earnings (AoE) applications, third party debt applications, charging order applications decreased, down 49%, 11% and 5% respectively.

There were 9,900 enforcement-related orders made in April to June 2025, stable compared to the same quarter of 2024. Charging orders and orders to obtain information rose, up 4% and up 7% respectively (from 5,800 to 6,000 and 1,600 to 1,700 respectively). This was offset by a fall in AoE orders, which were down 12% (from 2,200 to 1,900).

Over the longer term, there has been a decreasing trend in enforcement-related applications received and orders made since 2009, possibly due to claimants’ preference for using warrants instead to retrieve money, property or goods.

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8. Judicial reviews^{[footnote 7]}

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There were 940 judicial review applications received in Q2 2025, up 10% on Q2 2024 (850) to the highest level since Q4 2018.

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Figure 7: Judicial Review Applications, by type; Q2 2020 to Q2 2025 (Source: JR CSV)

Of the 940 applications received in Q2 2025, 310 were civil immigration and asylum applications, 590 were civil (other)^{[footnote 8]}, which recorded its highest level since the start of the time series, and 38 were criminal, up 17%, 10% and down 19% respectively on Q2 2024. Of the civil immigration and asylum cases, 2 have since been transferred to the UTIAC.

Of the applications that were made in Q2 2025, 24% are now closed. Of the total applications, 230 reached the permission stage in Q2 2025, and of these:

• 11% (24) were found to be totally without merit.
• 49 cases have already been granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed and 140 were refused at the permission stage. 3 cases refused at permission stage have so far gone on to be granted permission at the renewal stage.
• 52 cases were assessed to be eligible for a final hearing and of these, 10 have since been heard.
• The mean time from a case being lodged to the permission decision was 46 days. Although timeliness for cases being lodged to final hearing are included in the tables, this is based on too few cases to be meaningful. The actual time taken for these cases will only be known when they have had time to work their way through the system.

8.1 Applications lodged against departments (table 2.5)

Table 2.5 presents judicial review figures by defendant type (i.e. individual government department or public body). This table provides the number of judicial review applications lodged, permission granted to proceed to final hearing, and decisions found in favour of the claimant at final hearing.

The information presented is derived from the ‘defendant name’ – a free text field completed by the claimant, which is matched and grouped by department. All efforts have been made to quality assure the data presented. However, this is a manually typed field, and as such is open to inputting errors and should be used with caution.

The key findings for Q2 2025 are:

• Home Office had the largest number of JR applications lodged against them, with 290 applications, the highest since Q4 2018. Of these, 8 have so far been granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed to final hearing (3% of applications) to date.
• The second largest recipient of JR cases was the Local Authorities, with 280 cases received. The highest in the time series (up 24% compared to Q2 2024 and up 74% compared to Q1 2025), although quarterly volumes can be prone to volatility. Of these, to date 27 have so far been granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed to final hearing (10% of applications).
• The third largest recipient was the Ministry of Justice, having 130 applications lodged against it. Of these, 6 have so far been granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed to final hearing (5% of applications) to date.

A more granular view of the JR data by department and case type can be found in the data visualisation tool found here. Feedback is welcome on this tool to ensure it meets user needs.

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9. Privacy Injunctions^{[footnote 9]}

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In the first six months of 2025, there were 10 proceedings where the High Court considered an application for a new interim privacy injunction.

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Figure 8: Number of privacy injunction proceedings, by type of proceeding, from Jan-Jun 2015 to Jan-Jun 2025 (Source: tables 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3)

9.1 New interim privacy injunctions (Table 3.1)

Eight of the 10 proceedings at the High Court that took place in January to June 2025 were granted. The remaining two were refused. In the first six months of the previous year (January to June 2024) six new interim privacy injunction proceedings took place, and five of these were granted. The remaining case was refused.

9.2 Continuation of existing interim injunctions (Table 3.2)

An undertaking is different from an injunction, in that it is a promise given by the defendants, rather than an injunction which is an order of the court.

The continuation of six existing interim injunction proceedings that took place in January to June 2025 were granted/varied. There were no proceedings considered on whether to continue or amend an undertaking in the same period. In January to June 2024, the continuation of four existing interim injunction proceedings was granted/varied. No proceedings considered on whether to continue or amend an undertaking in the same period.

9.3 Final privacy injunctions (Table 3.3)

There was one final privacy injunctions dealt with in January to June 2025, and no final undertakings dealt with in the same period. There was one final privacy injunction and no final undertakings dealt with in the same period from the previous year (January to June 2024).

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10. Further information

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10.1 Provisional data and revisions

The statistics in the latest quarter are provisional and revisions may be made when the next edition of this bulletin is published. If revisions are needed in subsequent quarters, these will be annotated in the tables.

10.2 Accompanying files

As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

• A supporting document providing further information on how the data is collected and processed, as well as information on the revisions policy and legislation relevant to civil justice.
• The quality statement published with this guide sets out our policies for producing quality statistical outputs for the information we provide to maintain our users’ understanding and trust.
• A set of overview tables (also available in accessible format) and CSV files, covering each section of this bulletin. From Q2 2025 median timeliness has been added to the timeliness CSV. These can be found here.
• A set of tables providing statistics on the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, also available in accessible format.
• A Judicial Review data visualisation tool (to provide a more granular view of the JR data by department and case type). This can be found here.
• A Sankey tool which shows case progression of civil cases in the county courts is here.
• A Civil data visualisation tool to provide a more granular and interactive view of cases through the civil claims system. This can be found here.

10.3 Rounding convention

Figures greater than 10,000 are rounded to the nearest 1,000, those between 1,000 and 10,000 are rounded to the nearest 100 and those between 100 to 1,000 are rounded to the nearest 10. Less than 100 are given as the actual number.

10.4 National Statistics status

National Statistics status are accredited official statistics that meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.

Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in January 2019. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

10.5 Future publications

Our statisticians regularly review the content of publications. Development of new and improved statistical outputs is usually dependent on reallocating existing resources. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we welcome user feedback on existing outputs including content, breadth, frequency and methodology. Please send any comments you have on this publication including suggestions for further developments or reductions in content.

10.6 Contacts

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) press office:

Sarah Cottrill - email: sarah.cottrill@justice.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Courts and People division of the Ministry of Justice:

Matteo Chiesa - email: cajs@justice.gov.uk

Next update: 4 December 2025

1. From 16th November 2023 to 17th July 2024, a small proportion (approximately 14%) of data relating to stages from allocation to track to final hearing may be missing, incomplete or not correctly represented for money claims and damages claims. This is due to some of these cases progressing on the damages and online money claims systems, rather than the legacy CaseMan system. ↩

2. Since the launch of the Damages Claims service in May 2021 to March 2025 some cases submitted to the damages claims portal have been incorrectly assigned as personal injury case type, even in cases which should have been classified as other damages claims. This means data during this period is not comparable to the rest of the series, and so caution should be used when looking at historic trends. ↩ ↩²

3. Following the alignment of the fees for online and paper civil money and possession claims in May 2021, figure 2 shows all data with the updated claim brackets for comparison, a further breakdown of these brackets is available within the CSV. The CSV shows updated claim brackets from 2021. ↩

4. This includes claims for the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC), Courts and Tribunals Service Centre Salford, and County Court Online. ↩

5. PART 28 - THE FAST TRACK AND THE INTERMEDIATE TRACK - Civil Procedure Rules (justice.gov.uk) ↩

6. Judgment by admission is where the defendant admits the truth of the claim made. ↩

7. The judicial review data are Official Statistics ↩

8. Civil (other) includes Homelessness, Town and Country Planning, and Disciplinary Bodies. For a full list of topics included in civil (other) please see section 3.2 of the publication guidance. ↩

9. The privacy injunction data are Official Statistics ↩