In January to March 2018, the number of County Court claims, allocations and judgments increased against the same quarter of 2017.
In the last two quarters, there has been volatility in the volume of claims received following the implementation of the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt in October 2017, however the number of claims at January to March 2018 are lower than the quarter before the protocol was introduced.
In January to March 2018, County Court claims increased by 5% to 534,400. Of these, 427,900 were specified money claims (up 9% on the same period in 2017).
The average time taken for small claims to trial took 33 weeks and for multi/fast track claims 57 weeks, up 3 and 2 weeks on the same period in 2017 respectively. However, average time taken remains in line with range seen since 2011.
It can take nearly a year to get to trial. So well worth considering Mediation.