Accredited official statistics

Civil Justice Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2025

Published 5 March 2026

Applies to England and Wales

1. Main Points

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Increase in County Court claims, driven by money claims	Compared to the same period in 2024, County Court claims from October to December 2025 were up 3% to 454,000. Of these, 388,000 (85%) were money claims (up 7%).
Damages claims were down 20% to 22,000	The decrease in damages claims was driven by a fall in personal injury claims (down 37% to 10,000) compared to the same quarter in 2024.
The number of claims defended remained stable; and the number of trials increased compared to the same period in 2024	There were 65,000 claims defended (stable) and 13,000 claims that went to trial in October to December 2025 (up 6%) 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 36.1 weeks in October to December 2025, 6.4 weeks faster than the same period in 2024. The median time taken for fast/intermediate/multi track claims to go to trial was 9.3 weeks faster than the same period last year, at 57.4 weeks in the current quarter.
Judgments were up 7% and default judgments were up 8%	Judgments were up 7% (to 297,000) in October to December 2025, compared to the same period in 2024; with 94% of these being default judgments.
Enforcement applications fell to 8,100 and orders fell to 6,900	Enforcement applications were down 42%, and enforcement orders were down 32% in October to December 2025 when compared to the same quarter in 2024.
Warrants issued decreased to 32,000	Warrants issued were down 50% when compared to the same quarter in 2024.
1,100 judicial review applications	There were 1,100 applications for Judicial Reviews in Q4 2025, up 56% on Q4 2024.
There were three new applications for interim privacy injunction proceedings in the second half of 2025	There were no proceedings on whether to continue or amend an interim injunction, and no proceedings on whether to issue a final privacy injunction.

This publication gives Civil County Court and Judicial Review Statistics for the latest quarter (October to December 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 second half of 2025. For more details, please see the supporting document.

Statistics on the Business and Property Court for England and Wales, including an annual infographic, 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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County court claims received, gone to trial and judgments all increased this quarter compared to the same quarter in 2024, whilst claims defended remained stable. In contrast, warrants issued, enforcement-related applications, and orders made decreased over the same period, falling to the lowest levels since 2020. These volumes are largely driven by bulk user behaviour and as such can fluctuate significantly, therefore it is too early to say whether this trend will continue.

The median average time taken for small track and fast/intermediate/multi track claims to reach trial both continued to decrease this quarter, falling by 6.4 and 9.3 weeks respectively compared to the same quarter in 2024. For fast/intermediate/multi track claims this is the fastest median average time between claim issue and trial since the timeseries began in 2022.

There were 1,100 judicial review applications received this quarter, up 56% on the previous year. This is the highest level since Q1 2017, driven by a rise in civil (other) and civil immigration and asylum applications.

This quarter also includes details of new interim privacy injunctions in the High Court between July to December 2025. These can be found in section 9.

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3. Claims Summary

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Total county court claims have been steadily increasing over the last 5 years. There were 1,938,000 claims in the 2025 calendar year, up 12%, from 1,731,000, in the previous year.

County court claims were up 3% from the same quarter of 2024, driven mostly by money claims.

Non-money claim volumes were at 44,000, down 10% when compared to the same quarter in 2024.

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Figure 1: Quarterly County Court claims by type, Q4 (October to December) 2020 to Q4 (October to December) 2025 (Source: table 1.2)

In the most recent quarter, total claims were up 3% compared to the same period in 2024 (from 440,000 to 454,000). Of these, 410,000 were money and damages claims, up 5% from October to December 2024 (from 391,000). Money and damages claims made up 90% of all claims in October to December 2025, up 1pp on its share in October to December 2024.

Non-money claims were down 10% (from 49,000 to 44,000) in the current quarter compared to the same period in 2024, mostly driven by a decrease in Mortgage and Landlord Possession claims.

Within non-money claims, ‘other’ non-money claims showed a general decline from 2018. This decrease is likely to be partly the result of whiplash reforms reducing the volume of road traffic accident claims going to court. However, since Q2 2022, these have remained relatively stable, down 4% (to 16,000) in the latest quarter compared to the same period in 2024.

Similarly, Mortgage and Landlord Possession claims have remained relatively stable in previous quarters, yet have fallen slightly in the latest quarter with 26,000 claims recorded in October to December 2025, down 14% 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 6% (from 2,500 to 2,400) compared to the same period in 2024.

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4. Money and Damages Claims

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There were 1.7 million money and damages claims in the calendar year of 2025, an increase of 14% when compared to the previous year.

There was an increase in damages claims in 2025 of 11% (to 110,000) compared to 2024 (from 99,000). Personal injury claims decreased by 22% while other damages claims rose by 68%.

Money claims were up 7% (to 388,000 claims) in October to December 2025 compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Damages claims^{[footnote 1]} were down 20% to 22,000, driven by an decrease in other personal injury claims (down 37%) to 10,000 compared to the same quarter in 2024.

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Figure 2: Money claims by monetary value, Q4 (October to December) 2020 to Q4 (October to December) 2025 (Source: civil workload CSV^{[footnote 2]})

Almost all (99% in Q4 2025) money claims are processed and issued at the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC)^{[footnote 3]}. There were 384,000 such claims at the CNBC in October to December 2025 (up 6% on the same quarter in 2024).

The increase in the volume of money claims is driven by claims valued under £500. These were up 12% to 191,000 claims in the period October to December 2025 compared to the same quarter in 2024.

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 October to December 2020). In the current quarter, volumes were down 20% to 22,000 compared to the same period in 2024. This was driven by a decrease in personal injury claims, down 37%, from 16,000 to 10,000. Meanwhile, there was an increase in other damages claims, up 2%to 12,000, over the same period, although other damages claims volumes can be prone to volatility in quarterly volumes. These accounted for 55% of all damages claims in the most recent quarter, up 12pp compared to October to December 2024, when they accounted for 43% of all damages claims. The volume of other damages claims have increased in recent quarters 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 1]} showed general decreases between Q3 2020 and Q1 2022, falling from 33,000 to 18,000, but have remained relatively stable since Q4 2022.

4.1 Allocations (table 1.3)

In October to December 2025, 28,000 money and damages claims were allocated to track, down 24% (from 37,000) compared to the same period in 2024. Compared to October to December 2024, of these allocations:

• 19,000 were allocated to small claims, down 26% on October to December 2024. This accounts for 67% of all allocations (compared to 69% of all allocations in the same quarter of 2024).
• 7,300 were allocated to fast track, down 19% on October to December 2024. This accounts for 26% of all allocations (compared to 25% of all allocations in the same quarter of 2024).
• 630 were allocated to intermediate track, up 29% on October to December 2024. This accounts for 2% of all allocations (compared to 1% of all allocations in the same quarter of 2024), although these are expected to increase as the new track is embedded.
• 1,300 were allocated to multi-track, down 34% on October to December 2024. This accounts for 5% of all allocations (unchanged compared to the same quarter of 2024).

Note that the nature of reporting allocations data means the series can show short-term fluctuations, and larger changes when revised. Therefore, caution should be taken when comparing the current quarter to previous data in the time series.

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5. Defences (including legal representation) and Trials

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Claims defended increased from 260,000 to 279,000 (up 7%) in 2025 compared to the previous calendar year. The number of trials also increased by 12% in 2025 (from 49,000 to 54,000) from the 2024 calendar year.

The number of claims defended was stable to 65,000 compared to the same quarter in 2024.

The number of trials was up 6% to 13,000 compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Median average time taken for small claims was 36.1 weeks (6.4 weeks faster compared to the same quarter in 2024) and for fast, intermediate and multi-track claims it was 57.4 weeks (9.3 weeks faster than October to December 2024).

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Of those claims defended in October to December 2025, 39% had legal representation for both claimant and defendant, 41% had representation for claimant only, and 3% for defendant only. Most (87%) damages claim defences had legal representation for both the defendant and claimant, compared with 25% of money claim defences.

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

The total number of claims defended was stable in October to December 2025 compared to the same quarter in 2024, from 66,000 to 65,000 cases. Money claim defences were up 5% from 43,000 to 45,000 compared to October to December 2024. On the contrary, a decrease was seen in defended damages claims (down 8% from 17,000 to 15,000).

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

Defended cases which are not settled or withdrawn, generally result in a trial. In total, there were 13,000 trials in October to December 2025, up 6% compared to the same period in 2024. Of the claims that went to trial, 9,600 (76%) were small claims trials (up 4% compared to the same quarter in 2024) and 3,100 (24%) were fast, intermediate and multi-track trials (up 15% 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, Q4 (October to December) 2020 to Q4 (October to December) 2025 (Source: table 1.5)

In October to December 2025, it took a median time of 36.1 weeks between a small claim being issued and the claim going to trial, 6.4 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 57.4 weeks to reach a trial, 9.3 weeks faster than in October to December 2024.

Timeliness figures for the mean average are included in table 1.5 of the accompanying statistical tables

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6. Judgments

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In the 2025 calendar year there were 1,200,000 judgments compared to 1,091,000 in 2024 (up 10%). 93% of judgments in 2025 were default judgments (1,118,000).

Judgments were up 7% compared to the same quarter in 2024.

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Figure 5: All claims, judgments and default judgments, Q4 (October to December) 2020 to Q4 (October to December) 2025 (Source: tables 1.2 and 1.4)

There were 297,000 judgments made in October to December 2025, up 7% compared to the same quarter of 2024. Of these, 94% were default judgments, up 1pp on its share in October to December 2024. These remained relatively stable between 2018 and 2022, with around 9 out of every 10 judgments resulting in a default judgment. The proportion has generally increased from 2023, from 91% in Q1 2023 to 94% in Q4 2025.

The second largest type of judgment was ‘admissions’^{[footnote 4]}, of which there were 10,000 in October to December 2025, down 7% on the same quarter in 2024 (from 11,000). ‘Admission’ judgments accounted for 3% of all judgments in the current quarter.

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7. Warrants and Enforcements

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Warrants issued were down 29% from the 2024 calendar year (from 273,000 to 194,000), the lowest annual volume since 2020. Warrants of control made up 69% of these in 2025 (134,000, down 37% from 2024).

Enforcement applications were down 22% (from 55,000 to 43,000) and enforcement orders were also down 7% (from 40,000 to 37,000) when compared to 2024.

Warrants issued were down 50% when compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Enforcement applications were down 42% and enforcement orders were down 32% when compared to October to December 2024.

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Figure 6: Warrants and enforcements issued – Q4 (October to December) 2020 to Q4 (October to December) 2025 (Source: tables 1.7 and 1.8)

7.1 Warrants (table 1.7)

In the latest quarter (October to December 2025) there were 32,000 warrants issued, down 50% (from 64,000) on the same quarter in 2024. This is driven by a fall in warrants of control, which accounted for 58% of total warrants (down from 77% in Q4 2024), and were down 62%, from 49,000 to 18,000, compared to the same period in 2024. These volumes are largely driven by bulk user behaviour and as such can fluctuate significantly. A judgment can be enforced for six years after it is made, so demand may return in subsequent quarters.

There were 13,000 possession warrants issued in October to December 2025, down 10% (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 October to December 2025, there were 8,100 enforcement-related order applications (which include attachment of earnings orders, charging orders, third party debt orders, administration orders, and orders to obtain information), down 42% compared to the same quarter of 2024. Attachment of earnings (AoE) applications and charging order applications both decreased over this period, down 51% and 39% respectively. Meanwhile, third party debt applications increased by 2% and administration order applications remained stable over the same period.

There were 6,900 enforcement-related orders made in October to December 2025, down 32% compared to the same quarter of 2024. AoE, third party debt and charging orders fell, down 20%, 35% and 48% respectively (from 2,300 to 1,800, 260 to 170 and 5,900 to 3,100 respectively), driving the overall fall in volumes.

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 other methods instead to retrieve money, property or goods.

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8. Judicial reviews^{[footnote 5]}

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Judicial review applications increased to 3,700 in 2025, up 24% on the 2024 calendar year. Of the applications received in 2025, 42% of these have been closed. 13% of cases that reached the permission stage were found to be ‘Totally Without Merit’ (190 cases).

There were 1,100 judicial review applications received in Q4 2025, up 56% on Q4 2024 (700).

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Figure 7: Judicial Review Applications, by type; Q4 2020 to Q4 2025 (Source: JR CSV)

8.1 Annual JR receipts – January to December 2025:

Of the 3,700 applications received in 2025, 1,300 were civil immigration and asylum applications, 2,200 were civil (other), and 130 were criminal, up 26%, 25% and down 6% respectively from 2024. Of the civil immigration and asylum cases, 10 have since been transferred to the UTIAC.

Of the applications that were made from January to December 2025, 1,500 (42%) are now closed. Of the total applications, 1,400 reached the permission stage in 2025, and of these:

• 13% (190) were found to be totally without merit (TWM).
• 320 cases were granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed at first stage and 920 were refused at the permission stage. However, 35 of the cases refused at permission stage went on to be granted permission at the renewal stage.
• 360 cases have been assessed to be eligible for a final hearing and of these, 100 have since been heard.
• Of the 100 cases that reached a final hearing, 23 were found in favour of the claimant and 18 in favour of the defendant.
• The mean time from a case being lodged to the permission decision was 90 days, and the mean time from a case being lodged to final hearing decision was 148 days. Please note, these timeliness figures may change in subsequent quarters as cases progress through the system.

8.2 Quarterly JR Receipts – October to December 2025:

Of the 1,100 applications received in Q4 2025, 420 were civil immigration and asylum applications, 640 were civil (other)^{[footnote 6]}, which recorded its highest level since the start of the time series, and 30 were criminal, up 58%, 60% and down 3% respectively from Q4 2024. Of the civil immigration and asylum cases, 4 have since been transferred to the UTIAC.

Of the applications that were made in Q4 2025, 12% are now closed. Of the total applications, 170 reached the permission stage in Q4 2025, and of these:

• 13% (21) were found to be totally without merit.
• 33 cases have already been granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed and 95 were refused at the permission stage. None of the cases refused at permission stage have so far gone on to be granted permission at the renewal stage.
• 33 cases were assessed to be eligible for a final hearing and of these, 8 have since been heard.
• The mean time from a case being lodged to the permission decision was 40 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 average time taken for these cases will only be known when they have had time to work their way through the system.

8.3 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 Q4 2025 are:

• Home Office had the largest number of JR applications lodged against them, with 390 applications. Of these, 3 have so far been granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed to final hearing (1% of applications) to date.
• The second largest recipient of JR cases was the Local Authorities, with 320 cases received, of which to date 23 have so far been granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed to final hearing (7% of applications).
• The third largest recipient was the Ministry of Justice, having 130 applications lodged against it. Of these, 5 have so far been granted permission or granted permission in part to proceed to final hearing (4% 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 7]}

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In the final six months of 2025, there were 3 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 Jul-Dec 2015 to Jul-Dec 2025 (Source: tables 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3)

9.1 New interim privacy injunctions (Table 3.1)

One of the 3 proceedings at the High Court that took place in July to December 2025 was granted, whilst the remaining two were refused. In the final six months of the previous year (July to December 2024) seven new interim privacy injunction proceedings took place. Of these, four were granted, two were refused and the remaining case was withdrawn.

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.

There were no proceedings considered on whether to continue or amend an existing interim injunction or undertaking in July to December 2025. In July to December 2024, the continuation of two existing interim injunction proceedings was granted/varied and one was discharged.

9.3 Final privacy injunctions (Table 3.3)

There were no final privacy injunctions dealt with in July to December 2025, and no final undertakings dealt with in the same period. There were two final privacy injunctions dealt with in the same period from the previous year (July to December 2024) and, of these, both were granted.

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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. 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:

Emily Cornish - email: pressofficecourtslaw@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 June 2026

1. 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

2. 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. ↩

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

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

5. The judicial review data are Official Statistics ↩

6. 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 released alongside this publication. ↩

7. The privacy injunction data are Official Statistics ↩