The County Court is a ‘dysfunctional’ system that has ‘failed’ adequately to deliver civil justice across England and Wales, a new report by the Justice Committee warns.
An ‘urgent and comprehensive, root-and-branch’ review is required to address systemic delays and entrenched inefficiencies across its operations, MPs said.
The decade-long digital Reform programme has fallen well short of its ambition, leaving a myriad of incompatible systems and outdated paper-based processes, the report found.
The Committee points to the fact that reviews are currently underway into both sentencing and the criminal courts and that there is a ‘fundamental absence’ of any equivalent process for civil justice, demonstrating that it is the ‘Cinderella service’ of the justice system.
In its report on the Work of the County Court published today (July 21), the cross-party committee chaired by Labour MP Andy Slaughter concludes it is ‘imperative that the improvement of the County Court becomes a key priority of the Ministry of Justice’ given the ‘unacceptable and increasing delays across nearly all types of claims’.
The Reform programme was over-ambitious and ultimately under-delivered in its digital transformation, the report said, adding that all future digital reforms should be co-designed with users and stakeholders and must not be rolled out until they have proven reliable through extensive piloting and testing.
A single case management system should be introduced to provide real time status updates for all cases, integrating both Reform and legacy systems, it added.
It is very difficult to understand why the County Court continues to rely on paper files, which need to be shipped around the country at great cost. Paper is a serious cause of the delays in the County Court, the report concludes.
The County Court estate, MPs said is in a state of significant disrepair following years of ‘chronic’ underinvestment. Conditions have impacted staff and judicial morale, with extensive examples of poor court maintenance, including concerning instances of asbestos and rat infestations.
The report calls on the Government to end the cycle of underfunding, adding that ‘we are concerned by HMCTS’ failure to recognise the importance of the condition of the physical estate for both the functioning of courts and the public’s perception of civil justice’.
It recommended that the MoJ and HMCTS publish a detailed breakdown of how the £220 million in capital funding it was allocated was spent between 2023 and 2025.
The report urges that all works to increase the accessibility of the court estate must be prioritised and delivered at pace.
The report raised serious concerns over the current level of delays across the County Court.
The civil justice quarterly statistics, covering January to March 2025, show the average time between issue and trial for small claims to be 49.8 weeks whilst for fast, intermediate and multi-track claims it stands at 74.7 weeks, the report said.
It found that while the pandemic significantly contributed to the backlog in cases, the available data clearly shows it only exacerbated existing trends.
The report calls on HMCTS to collect and publish data on individual court and tribunal performances to allow for the identification of regional disparities, and support investment planning in reducing the County Court delays.
HMCTS must develop a manageable programme to reduce the delays to pre-2015 levels by the end of this Parliament, it added.
On block listing, the report urges HMCTS and the Judiciary to work together to collect the necessary data on listing and settlement rates to allow for data-informed listing practices ensuring any over-listing is minimised.
Litigants should be able to recover the legal, travel, and subsistence costs from HMCTS which is wasted due to over-listing and/or poor court administration preventing their cases from being heard.
HMCTS, and the Ministry of Justice, must facilitate the greater use of remote hearings, working alongside the Senior Judiciary to provide national guidance outlining when virtual hearings should be used, the report added.
On communication issues, the report warns the centralisation of essential court operations has had a devastating impact on the delivery of justice, entrenching the postcode lottery and resulting in debilitating delays for all parties.
The current methods of contacting a county court do not work. It calls on the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC) to be integrated with local court case management systems to improve coordination and responsiveness.
Litigants-in-person are not adequately supported through the court process, it notes, urging the MoJ and Civil Justice Council to publish accessible guidance for them.
Turning to judicial capacity and staffing, the report cautions that the civil judiciary is no longer an attractive profession and it is vital more is done to attract high performing candidates to the district-bench.
The current staffing crisis in HMCTS, MPs conclude, is untenable, impeding the ability to support County Court users and ensuring efficient access to justice.
The report recommends that the Review into the County Court must include an in-depth assessment of the recruitment and retention crisis.
On other opportunities for reform, the report recommends that as part of the urgent review into the County Court, an evaluation of mandatory mediation must be undertaken to understand whether it can be effectively deployed in other claim types.
It also calls for a consultation and report by the MoJ, into how it plans to effectively use AI to improve the performance and operations of the County Court by the end of 2026.
