Small claims court shoulders the burden of personal injury claims

On 13 September 2024 the House of Commons Library published Annual Court Statistics for England and Wales (“the Paper”). Whilst its main focus was on criminal justice - revealing that in December 2023 there were a total of 67,600 outstanding cases - the highest end of quarter total ever recorded, the Paper also references civil justice, providing some insight into the personal injury claims sector.    

•  Quarter 2 (2024) saw 16,000 personal injury claims issued between April and June – a rise of 18 % compared to the same period in 2023.
• Whilst delays slowed in the Small claims court, for claims allocated to the Fast and Multi Track, the time from date of issue to trial increased to an average of almost 80 weeks – the longest period since records were first compiled in 2009.
• In respect of allocation to track – usually governed by the financial value of the damages sought, the Small Claims Track was responsible for 69% of all allocations, the Fast Track 25% and the Multi- Track just 6% (1,700 claims).
• Limited data was provided in respect of the new Intermediate Track (value £25,000 to £100,000), which came into effect in October 2023. The data provided was confined to noting that just

     135 claims had been allocated to the Intermediate Track, though this will form part of the future official statistics in due course. 

• The total number of court staff, to include agency and contract workers, remained largely constant since 2014/2015, varying between 15,749 and 17,316, though the Paper recognises that, compared to a baseline date of 2012/2013, the number of Judges and Magistrates has fallen more steeply than the number of cases in the respective courts in which they operate. 

Commentary: 

Whilst the rising burden of cases shouldered by the Small claims court is not unexpected given the rise of the value limit to £5,000 for road traffic claims in 2021, it does place into context the limited and arguably diminishing role of higher value multi-track allocations in personal injury claims.

The rise seen in the last quarter of personal injury claims issued in the county courts conflicts with a falling number of claims notified to the Online Personal Injury Claims Portal this calendar year. Future data releases for the third and fourth quarters of 2024 will reveal whether this is an anomaly or evidence of a wider trend.