The Supreme Court has seen its busiest year to date, hearing 45% more appeals (120) than during 2012/13 and giving 49% more judgments (115).
Just over a third of applicants were granted permission to appeal, according to the court’s annual report and accounts.
Justices are less likely to sit in panels of larger than five than in previous years—the number of appeals upon which seven or nine Justices sat fell to about 9% of hearings (compared with 11% in the previous year, and 24% in 2011/12 and 2010/11).
Jenny Rowe, chief executive of the court, says the court administration has “continued to deliver our core function of processing casework and providing support to the Justices, against a background of a workload which has become more demanding.”
The accounts showed the court spent £12.7m during the last year, 40% of which was judicial and staff costs, and recouped more than £7.5m in court fees and other income.
According to the report, the court will make projected savings of £65,000 per annum from next year after leaving Ministry of Justice IT contracts and agreeing terms with new suppliers.
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