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In 2023, magistrates’ courts in England and Wales received 1.37 million cases and Crown courts received 105,000 cases. Both the magistrates’ and Crown court have an ongoing backlog of cases which has risen in recent years.
- Main Points
- Statistician’s comment
- 1. Changes to note
- 2. Criminal cases in the magistrates’ courts
- 3. Criminal cases in the Crown Court
- 4. Timeliness
- 5. Enforcement of financial impositions
- 6. Experimental statistics: Language interpreter and translation services
The technical guide to ‘Criminal court statistics’ and ‘Language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals’ can be found at the links below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-guide-to-criminal-court-statistics
This report covers the period to the end of September 2023.
The volume of receipts in the Crown court has continued to increase in the latest quarter and represents the highest volume in over two years. Although disposals have also increased (to their highest level since 2019), the fact that receipts exceed disposals means the outstanding caseload has grown in the quarter. Latest management information from HMCTS indicates this continues into the autumn with receipts still exceeding disposals in October.
Common Platform and reform to criminal court data[footnote 1]
‘Common Platform’ is a new digital case management system for the magistrates’ and Crown Courts. The system seeks to streamline data collection, data accessibility and improve the way criminal cases are processed across the Criminal Justice System. It will eventually replace the existing ‘legacy’ criminal court systems Libra (magistrates’) and XHIBIT (Crown), with a single, streamlined system. Early adopter courts across England and Wales are testing the system before the subsequent rollout to all criminal courts concludes. Derbyshire magistrates’ and Crown Court began this process in September 2020 and the roll out has continued across England and Wales[footnote 2]. New cases entering courts from the point at which they adopt the Common Platform are held on the new system – cases that began at court prior to that court transitioning to Common Platform will remain on the ‘legacy’ system (e.g., LIBRA or XHIBIT). All measures relating to magistrates’ courts and Crown Court cases include both ‘legacy’ and Common Platform estimates on a ‘best equivalent’ basis. This includes all key breakdowns in published quarterly tables and associated data tools. Methodologies are as similar as possible however there are areas of known difference. The ‘legacy’ and ‘new’ data systems are fundamentally different, they do not record information in the same way and as such it is not possible to exactly replicate the existing published methodologies. Areas of known difference that impact the statistics in this release include: the allocation of case type (such as triable-either-way, indictable only, committed for sentence and appeal), the inability to account for case transfers, main hearing allocation and changes to case ownership. We will continue to develop data processes from the new system in collaboration with HMCTS and partner agencies as the Common Platform roll out continues. As we continue to develop these solutions, some series may be disrupted, with an increased likelihood of revisions to data in future. We are committed to ensuring that published statistics remain accurate, robust and coherent for users during the operational transition of data systems at the criminal courts. For further information regarding the extent of the differences summarised above please see the Guide to criminal court statistics.
Outstanding caseload at the magistrates’ courts increased as disposals volumes remained below case receipts.
Receipts increased slightly on the previous quarter while disposals fell. Disposals were below receipts and as a result the outstanding caseload increased by 3% on the previous quarter.
Crown Court caseload
The increased throughput from the magistrates’ courts as part of the initial recovery from the pandemic response saw the volume of receipts at the Crown Court exceed pre-COVID levels in late 2020. Following a slight decline, receipts have since returned to levels comparable to those pre-COVID. Figure 3: Crown Court caseload, Q1 2014 – Q3 2023 (Source: Table C1) Following the initial phased reintroduction of jury trials[footnote 6] disposals have gradually increased from a series low in Q2 2020 and returned to pre-COVID levels in Q1 2022. The Criminal Bar Association industrial action starting in April 2022 contributed to disposals falling in Q2 and Q3 2022. Following the resolution of that industrial action in October 2022[footnote 7], disposals increased. There were 27,833 case receipts into the Crown Court in Q3 2023. This is up 6% on the previous quarter and 16% above levels seen in Q3 2022. There were 25,682 case disposals at the Crown Court in Q3 2023. This is a 9% increase on the previous quarter and 28% above levels seen in the previous year which was at the height of the impact of the Criminal Bar Association action. There were 66,547 outstanding cases at the end of September 2023. This is up 3% on the previous quarter (64,835 cases) and 6% above the previous year (62,875 cases). The latest published HMCTS management information provides monthly volumes of receipts, disposals and the open (‘outstanding’) caseload for all case types at the Crown Court. The data to October 2023 shows a further small increase (less than 1%) compared to September 2023.
Analysis of the outstanding caseload at the Crown Court – experimental statistics
To address additional interest in the outstanding case estimates at the Crown Court we are continuing to publish ‘experimental statistics’ providing estimates of the average length of time (days) that a case has been outstanding. The age of an outstanding case is calculated from receipt at Crown Court to the end of the reporting period. Figure 4: Age of outstanding cases at the Crown Court, Q1 2014 – Q3 2023 (Source: Table O1) The average age of an outstanding case has increased markedly on pre-COVID levels. Both the median and mean averages have fallen in recent quarters but remain close to series peaks. In Q3 2023 the median age of all outstanding cases decreased by 1 day on the previous quarter, from 171 days to 170 days. Figure 5: Proportion of outstanding cases at the Crown Court by grouped age, Q1 2014 – Q3 2023 (Source: Table O3) At the end of Q3 2023 there were 17,790 cases that had been outstanding for a year or more. This has tended to increase since Q4 2019 and accounted for 28% of the outstanding caseload in the latest quarter. Within the ‘year or more’ grouping there were 6,505 cases which had been outstanding for two years or more – this accounts for 10% of the outstanding caseload.
Trial efficiency at Crown Court
There were 7,186 listed trials in Q3 2023 - an increase of 7% on the previous quarter and 8% above levels seen in the previous year. The effective trial rate was unchanged on the previous quarter at 41%, this has tended to increase from a series low seen in Q3 2022 (25%). The cracked trials rate of 32% was a 1 percentage point increase on the previous quarter and the ineffective trial rate decreased by 3 percentage points to 26% – the ineffective rate, although lower than at any point in the last two years, remains above pre-COVID levels (~13-19%). Figure 6: Crown Court listed trials and ineffective trial rate (%), Q1 2014 – Q3 2023 (Source: Table C2) The defence or prosecution not being ready was the largest reason for ineffective trials, accounting for 18% (343 trials) in Q3 2023. This follows sharp falls in the volume of ineffective trials due to defence advocate availability following the conclusion of the Criminal Bar Association action in October 2022.
Timeliness decreased at both the magistrates’ court and Crown Court
The median time from offence to completion for cases completing at the magistrates’ and Crown Court both decreased on the previous quarter, down 3% and 6% respectively.
The timeliness measures are based on defendants whose cases have been completed and as such are ‘backwards’ looking measures of timeliness between offence and completion at the relevant criminal court jurisdiction.
Experimental statistics using a new data linking methodology have been developed using the Ministry of Justices open-source statistical ‘Splink’ package to provide updated end-to-end timeliness estimates.
Alongside the gradual development of the experimental end-to-end series we will continue to best meet user demands via more granular data on separate (‘unlinked’) timeliness estimates for magistrates’ courts and Crown Court.
•Magistrates’ court timeliness estimates (T1 – T3) – providing estimates of the time from offence to completion for defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ courts.
Total financial impositions increased
The total value of financial impositions made in Q3 2023 was £172.2 million, up 7% on Q2 2023 (£160.4m) and up 32% on the previous year (£130.5m).
Completed service requests
The volume of completed service requests increased to 48,170, a series peak. Completed requests were up 10% on the previous year (43,866). Figure 10: Number of completed language service requests and overall success rate, Q1 2014 – Q3 2023 (Source: Table L1)
Success rate
The overall success rate in Q3 2023 was 96% - this is a small (1 percentage point) fall compared to the previous quarter. This fall may reflect the extra demand seen in the increased volume of requests.
Complaints and complaint rate
The number of complaints has remained low since Q2 2020, with 146 complaints made in Q3 2023. This has decreased on the previous quarter (201) and remains well below levels seen pre-COVID (436 complaints in Q1 2020). The overall complaint rate was 0.3% in Q3 2023 and has remained below 1% since Q3 2020.
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