Care proceedings take on average more than a year to resolve, statistics released for the first time by the Ministry of Justice have revealed. New data on the average length of civil and criminal cases published this week from the third quarter of 2011 showed that care proceedings took an average of 55 weeks.

Hearings for small claims (under £5,000) in civil courts took place on average 30 weeks after claims were made; which rose to 57 weeks for higher value cases. The statistics also showed that on average criminal cases were completed 152 days after the offence.

Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said the figures released show that sometimes the court process can be too time-consuming. He said the ministry had committed to a series of reforms to speed up the justice process, including improving technology, increasing the use of mediation and simplifying court processes.

‘We will reduce the time it takes to get results,’ he said, citing the commitment made, following the Norgrove Family Justice Review, for courts to complete care proceedings within six months.

Quarterly statistics published also show what the MoJ describes as ‘noticable declines’ in the number of civil claims. The data shows 416,500 small claims were issued during the third quarter of 2011, 1% lower than the third quarter of 2010.

The number of small claims hearings taking place fell by 12% to 9,100, and the number of fast and multi-track trials fell 16% to 3,700.

However, the statistics revealed a 3% increase in the number of warrants for possession issued, rising to 33,500, with a 20% increase in the number of repossessions made by county court bailiffs, which between July and September 2011 totalled 16,600.

In family cases, the data showed 5,500 domestic violence orders were made in the third quarter of 2011; a drop of 14% on the 6,500 in the same period in the previous year.

In cases involving children, there were 7,700 children involved in public law applications made in the third quarter of 2011; a 28% increase on the same period for 2010. However the number of children involved in private law applications fell by 5% to 30,200.

For criminal matters, the number of cases completed in magistrates' courts in the third quarter of 2011 fell by 6% on the same period in 2010 to 439,700. The number of cases received in the Crown courts was 38,600, roughly the same as in the previous year.