Courts and Tribunals
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many sitting days each (a) court and (b) tribunal in England and Wales has been allocated in the 2025–26 financial year.
Answered by Sarah Sackman
The Ministry of Justice interprets this question as referring to the total allocations for each court and tribunal jurisdiction for the FY 2025/26. As part of this Government’s commitment to transparency, we began publishing total sitting‑day allocations by jurisdiction last year. The table below sets out the total allocations for FY2025/26 by jurisdiction. The Government has funded each jurisdiction to sit at or close to maximum capacity.
Jurisdiction | Sitting Day Allocation |
Crown | 110,000 (later increased to 111,250). |
Magistrates (Crime) | 114,000 |
Civil | 74,300 |
Family | 97,300 |
Court of Protection | 4,900 |
Immigration and Asylum Chamber* | 22,750 |
Social Security and Child Support** | 23,000 |
Employment | 33,900 |
Mental Health | 17,000 |
Other tribunals (Specials) *** | 36,100 |
* This figure represents the total number of days funded from both Ministry of Justice and Home Office budgets. However, in order to maximise overall sittings within this funding, the total number of days allocated across the First Tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal in aggregate was slightly higher, at 23,450.
** This figure includes days funded from both Ministry of Justice and Department for Work and Pensions budgets.
*** This figure only represents the sitting days included in the Ministry of Justice's baseline funding. There are long-standing agreements with several other government departments whereby they provide funding for capacity in specific tribunals. Additional days will be sat as a result of this additional funding.
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