Specialist Courts and Tribunals
Employment Court
There were 176 new cases filed in the Employment Court in the 2014 calendar year, slightly less than the 184 cases filed in 2013. The Court cleared more cases than was received. The number of active cases on hand reduced by 15% from 145 to 123 over the year.
Environment Court
Filing trends have decreased slightly, with 371 cases filed in the year ending 31 December 2014, which is 6% lower than the previous year.
The low number of appeals filed reflects both the current lower level of resource consent applications filed at council level, and the irregular nature of plan and policy review work initiated by councils across New Zealand.
The Court disposed of 503 cases in the 2014 calendar year, compared with 690 in 2013. The disposal rate, in conjunction with the lower numbers of new business, has seen the number of active cases reduce by nearly a quarter, from 543 at 31 December 2013 to 421 at 31 December 2014.
Coronial Services
There has been a 5% increase in referrals to the Coroner, with 5,540 referrals in the 2014 calendar year, compared to 5,265 in 2013.
The number of cases resolved was 5,604, compared to 5,667 in 2013.
The number of cases on hand has increased by less than 1%, with 2,933 cases as at 31 December 2013 and 2,944 as at 31 December 2014.
Māori Land Court
There were 5,544 new cases filed in the court in the 2014 calendar year. This is a decrease of 3%, compared to the previous year of 5,726. Over the same period, the disposal rate also decreased by 3% to 6,130 cases, compared to 6,325 cases in the 2013 calendar year.
The court pro-actively managed its aged case load, particularly focussing on its very oldest cases over five years of age. This corresponded with a 13% decrease in cases on-hand, with 3,924 cases as at 31 December 2014.
Tribunals and Authorities
Tenancy Tribunal
The Tenancy Tribunal accounts for 68% of new business in the tribunals and authorities administered by the Ministry of Justice (excluding Disputes Tribunal figures, which are reported separately). New business decreased by 5% with 20,054 applications lodged in the 2014 calendar year, compared to 21,100 in 2013.
The tribunal disposed 20,299 cases in the 2014 calendar year, a 21% decrease in disposals compared to 25,578 the previous year. The decrease in disposals reflects the decrease in new business, and the clearance rate in 2014 is just over 100%.
Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority
The Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority represented 16% of new business for tribunals and authorities in the 2014 calendar year.
In the 2014 calendar year there were 4,687 applications, a 1% reduction compared to 2013, when there were 4,733 applications. The Authority has disposed 6,444 applications in 2014, an increase of 30% compared to the previous year where 4,939 applications were disposed. New legislative requirements to provide evidence of training by the deadline of 1 October 2014 has resulted in the increase in disposals.
Immigration and Protection Tribunal
The Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) represented approximately 5% of the tribunals' and authorities’ new business in the 2014 calendar year. The IPT received 1,392 cases during this time, an increase of 14% compared to the previous year when there were 1,223 cases received.
A total of 1,310 cases were disposed during the 2014 calendar year compared to 1,371 disposals in the previous calendar year. The Tribunal’s new operating model has enabled it to manage the workload despite the increase in new business.
There are now 1,209 cases on hand as at 31 December 2014.
Disputes Tribunal
Comparing the 2014 to 2013 calendar years the Disputes Tribunal has seen a:
- 1% decrease in new claims to 15,275
- 1% decrease in the disposals of claims to 14,757
- 4% decrease in the number of active claims to 3,421 as at 31 December 2014
There has been a continued downward trend in Disputes Tribunal claims filed over the past four calendar years. This is thought to be due to the economic climate, with less domestic consumer spending resulting in fewer consumer-related disputes.
Statistics
| Workload |
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| Specialist Courts and Tribunals workload statistics |
| Disputes Tribunal workload statistics |