2025 Disclosure - FOI

FOI disclosure 2025

Request

1. Staffing & Resourcing

  1. How many full-time equivalent staff are currently employed in the Registry (including administrative, case management, and legal officers and support roles)?
  2. Has there been any reduction or increase in Registry staffing levels since 2020?
  3. Are any Registry functions currently outsourced or seconded from other departments?

2. Case Statistics & Backlog

  1. How many active appeals and petitions for permission to appeal (PTA) are currently before the Supreme Court?
  2. How many PTAs were:
    1. Received
    2. Accepted for hearing
    3. Refused

...in each case over the last three calendar years?

3. Case Management Timeframes

  1. What is the average time from submission of a PTA to the issuance of a listing notice?
  2. What is the maximum and minimum time recorded for a PTA curt order / decision in the past 12 months?

4. How many active cases currently before the Court concern:

  1. Issues of constitutional significance
  2. Allegations of systemic governmental failure
  3. Requests for emergency or expedited hearing

5. Digital & Remote Processes

  1. What percentage of petitions are now processed through the online Portal?
  2. Are Registry officers authorised to communicate delays or hold requests orally, or must all directions be issued in writing?

Response:

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

We confirm that some of the information you requested is held by the UK Supreme Court. The answers to your questions are laid out in numbered points below.

1. Staffing & Resourcing

  1. There are 28 members of staff employed in the Registry, and there is currently one vacancy.
  2. The number of staff in Registry has decreased by 1 since 2020.
  3. No Registry functions are currently outsourced or seconded from other departments.

2. Case Statistics & Backlog

  1. There currently are 125 active appeals and petitions for permission to appeal.
  2. Information on how many PTAs have been received is available in our Annual Report & Accounts. However, in the interest of being helpful we have reproduced them here. This information is recorded by financial year rather than calendar year.
    1. PTAs received
      1. 2022-23: 153
      2. 2023-24: 185
      3. 2024-25: 177
    2. Granted
      1. 2022-23: 70
      2. 2023-24: 48
      3. 2024-25: 61
    3. Refused
      1. 2022-23: 196
      2. 2023-24: 146
      3. 2024-25: 109

3. Case Management Timeframes

  1. Before the new system was launched on 4 December 2024, the average time from submission to the issuance of a listing notice was 171 days. Following the launch of the new portal, the average time is now 105 days.
  2. The minimum recorded time in the past 12 months was 16 days; the maximum recorded time in the past 12 months was 196 days.

4. How many active cases currently before the Court concern:

The Court does not hold the information requested in questions 1 and 2 under the title ‘How many active cases currently before the Court concern’. There have been 24 requests for emergency or expedited hearings in active cases.

5. Digital & Remote Processes

  1. 100% of new cases are now processed through the portal.
  2. Registry staff communicate delays or hold requests both orally and in writing.

Reply sent : August 2025


Back to top