Record number of claims lodged at the county court in the second quarter of 2026 set a new benchmark, according to the latest civil‑justice figures released by the Ministry of Justice.
Quarterly filing surge hits historic high
The data show 571,250 new filings between April and June, an 11 % rise on the same period a year earlier and the largest quarterly total recorded since the ministry began publishing statistics in 2009.
Earlier peaks were reached only a handful of times. The first time filings topped half a million was in Q1 2017; numbers hovered near that level until the pandemic disrupted courts in 2020. They returned to the 500,000 mark in Q2 2025 (513,780) and again in Q1 2026 (527,738) before this latest jump.
Money‑related petitions dominated the surge, accounting for 91 % of all submissions. Officials said the trend was “likely driven by a rise in claims to recover monies in relation to parking on private land”.
Petitions valued under £500 rose 21 % year‑on‑year to 245,000, while the modest increase in non‑monetary filings reflected more requests for the return of goods.
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Judgments and wait times
Courts issued 368,000 judgments in the quarter, a 26 % increase over the same period in 2025. Default judgments made up 94 % of that total, showing the impact of the higher filing volume.
The median time from issue to trial fell for most tracks. Fast, intermediate and multi‑track cases waited a median of 55.9 weeks, 6.1 weeks less than a year ago. Small‑claim proceedings saw a median of 41 weeks, a slight 0.7‑week increase.
Since 2022 the ministry has reported median waits; the average wait for small claims stood at 48.5 weeks, and for other cases at 69.1 weeks, both still about nine weeks longer than the pre‑COVID baseline of Q4 2019.
These figures suggest the system is coping with the influx, though the lingering delay gap hints at capacity strains that may surface if filing rates keep climbing.
Judicial review activity climbs
The quarter also recorded 1,328 judicial‑review applications, up 42 % from the previous year and the highest level since 2012, when many immigration and asylum matters moved to the Upper Tribunal.
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Of those, 400 were civil immigration and asylum requests, while 890 involved other civil matters—the most since quarterly reporting began in 2007. Criminal judicial reviews numbered 38.
While the surge in reviews mirrors the broader filing trend, the split between civil immigration and other civil applications highlights a particular pressure point within the system.
For readers unfamiliar with the broader context, the rise in filings reflects not just isolated disputes but a growing reliance on the courts to resolve everyday financial grievances. When more people turn to litigation for issues like parking fees or small‑scale debt recovery, the ripple effect reaches judges, court staff and ultimately the speed at which cases move through the system.
The ministry’s report, available on the official website, will continue to track these trends quarterly. The next set of data, expected later this year, should reveal whether the current upward trajectory stabilises or accelerates further.