The Commercial Court Report 2023-24

Angelika Hellweger explains what the Report means for international arbitration in the UK.

On 20 March 2025, the Commercial Court Report for the year 2023-24^[1] was published.
It sets out details of litigation trends during the course of the year, and interestingly there was a “jump in new arbitration applications.”

A Rise in Arbitration-Related Claims

The report describes a “very marked rise” in applications for injunctions in support of arbitration claims and in challenges to awards.

In fact, arbitration applications accounted for about 20% of all of the claims issued in the Commercial Court, which in part reflects London’s status as an international arbitration centre.

The bulk of the arbitration claims issued were:

• Challenges to awards on grounds of jurisdiction: These arise from section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996. There was a marked increase in these challenges from the previous year, up from 7 to 24.
• Challenges alleging irregularity: Section 68 applications were up from 27 to 37 in comparison to the previous year.
• Appeals on a point of law: Section 69 applications were up from 37 to 52.
• Applications for injunctions in support of the arbitral process.

The Success Rate Remains Low

The success rate of these sorts of arbitration claims remains low. There was one successful appeal on a point of law, one successful jurisdiction challenge and no successful serious irregularity challenges.

This demonstrates the level to which the Court respects upholding arbitral tribunal awards and it is only on very rare occasions that it will intervene to overturn such awards.

The Commercial Court’s Role in Arbitration

The Commercial Court Guide^[2] specifies that its arbitration-related work is threefold:

1. Supervisory: The Commercial Court is the principal supervisory court for international arbitrations with a London seat. It handles applications for injunctions, and anti-suit injunctions in this regard.
2. Determines Challenges: The Commercial Court considers challenges to awards where the arbitral tribunal seat is in England. These are typically challenges under sections 67, 68, and / or 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996.
3. Recognition and Enforcement: The Commercial Court determines applications to recognise and enforce arbitral awards issued in the territory of a state other than the UK.

New Arbitration Claims List

In order to help manage the increase in arbitration-related claims, the London Circuit Commercial Court has established a new Arbitration Claims List which will be in place from 1 July 2025. The List will hear arbitration claims that require substantive hearings.

Arbitration Claims List hearings will generally be listed in the following windows each year:

• Trinity Term: 14-18 July 2025 and in the third full week in July each Trinity Term thereafter;
• Michaelmas Term: 6-10 October 2025 and in the first full week in October each Michaelmas Term thereafter;
• Hilary Term: 19-23 January 2026 and in the second full week in January each Hilary Term thereafter; and
• Easter Term: 20-24 April 2026 and in the first full week in each Easter Term thereafter.

The Practice Note on arbitration claims in the London Circuit Commercial Court^[3] sets out relevant information about the new list.

Comment

London-seated arbitrations remain a popular option in international arbitration, and this is reflected in the Commercial Court’s work in arbitration-related claims. Anecdotally, based on recent cases in the Commercial Court, this trend sees no sign of slowing down.

The UK Supreme Court has recently heard important cases on anti-suit injunctions in foreign seated arbitrations; notably UniCredit Bank GmbH v RusChemAlliance LLC [2024] UKSC 30, which has demonstrated the willingness of the English courts to uphold arbitration agreements.

In a similar vein, the new Arbitration Act 2025 is now in force in England & Wales, which updated previous legislation to make sure that the UK’s framework remains “state of the art” for domestic and international arbitration.

The 2023-2024 report evidences an increase in arbitration-related activity in the courts, which it seems may be set to continue in future years.

Sources

1. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/24.295_JO_Commercial_Court_Report_23-24_WEB.pdf
2. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/14.341_JO_Commercial_Court_Guide_FINAL.pdf
3. https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/london-circuit-commercial-court-practice-note-on-arbitration-claims/