Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 49
Review legal framework for custody time limits to prevent excessive pre-trial detention
Recommendation
Despite there being a legal framework in place that is intended to ensure that people who are detained are brought to trial as soon as possible, in practice a large proportion of the remand population is held beyond the custody time limit of six months. We are very concerned by the recent figures showing that 770 prisoners have been held in custodial remand for over two years. The Government should review the legal framework for custody time limits to determine whether it is effective in ensuring that defendants are not deprived of their liberty for longer than is reasonable. It should be standard practice that custody time limits are strictly adhered to except in exceptional circumstances. In particular, an unconvicted defendant should not spend more time on remand than they would be likely to receive from any eventual custodial sentence, having regard to the relevant sentencing guidelines.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government accepted the recommendation in principle, but stated that current data on remand reasons is insufficient. It committed to monitoring and assessing data quality in the new Common Platform digital system to explore future data capture on remand decisions.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
49
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
We reject this recommendation. Pre-trial detention is never considered lightly, and numerous safeguards exist to ensure that custody is used appropriately in these cases. These include the use of Custody Time Limits (CTLs) which are the maximum amount of time that a defendant can be held in custody pre-trial (currently 56 days for a Magistrates’ Court trial or 182 days for a Crown Court trial). The CTLs are set out in The Prosecution of Offences (Custody Time Limits) Regulations 1987. Decisions to remand a defendant in custody ahead of their trial are taken by the judiciary. The legal framework for custody time limits is clear and effective. The Bail Act 1976 provides a presumption in favour of bail, which recognises that a person should not be deprived of their liberty unless necessary for the protection of the public or the delivery of justice. It is for the courts to decide, on a case-by-case basis, whether a defendant presents such a bail risk as to warrant custody before they have been convicted. Even if a defendant is remanded into custody pre-trial, they are still able to apply for release on bail. CTLs are not a target, nor do they indicate a mandatory amount of time that a defendant must be in custody before trial. Judges and magistrates already take into account the likely length of the custodial sentence that a defendant faces when deciding whether to grant bail when the defendant is first charged, or at subsequent CTL extension hearings. There is no intention to review the legal framework for custody time limits at this time.
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