Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Crown Court backlog growing because cases conclude slower than anticipated.
Conclusion
The NAO report found that MoJ regularly models projections of the size of the Crown Court’s outstanding caseload, and has previously used projections from this modelling to inform decision–making on policy development, resource planning and capacity requirements.47 This modelling includes factors such as incoming demand, case complexity, court capacity and court efficiency.48 The NAO also reported that the actual level of new cases in 2023–24 was lower than the number that MoJ had used to inform its ambition of reducing the backlog to 53,000 by March 2025, and that the increase in the projected backlog is primarily due to cases taking longer on average to conclude than had been expected.49 43 Qq 2, 82 ; C&AG’s Report, para 3.2 44 Q 83 45 Q 77 46 Q 15 47 C&AG’s Report, para 1.11 48 C&AG‘s Report, para 1.13 49 C&AG‘s Report, para 1.15 16
Government Response
A response document is linked to this report, dated 16 May 2025. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document ↗