12th Report - Crown Court backlogs

MoJ confirmed that the proportion of ineffective trials–those that do not go ahead on the planned date and are relisted for later dates–had dropped from 27% at the end of 2023 to 25% in September 2024.55 MoJ acknowledged that this … Read more MoJ confirmed that the proportion of ineffective trials–those that do not go ahead on the planned date and are relisted for later dates–had dropped from 27% at the end of 2023 to 25% in September 2024.55 MoJ acknowledged that this rate remained “far too high”, and it is much higher than the pre– pandemic rate, which the NAO’s report shows was consistently close to 15% between 2014 and 2019.56 MoJ attributed the high proportion of ineffective trials to “running the system much hotter”, arguing that increasing the number of sitting days inevitably leads to an increase in ineffective trials.57 MoJ confirmed that judicial capacity is no longer a constraint on the number of trials that can be listed, but we were concerned to hear that over–listing of cases has contributed to the increased proportion of ineffective trials. While it is right that a degree of over–listing occurs to ensure that court time is not wasted when cases do not go ahead for unavoidable reasons, as we have already noted there is a huge impact on victims when their 50 Qq 78, 79 51 Q 81 52 Qq 9, 15, 25, 44, 45, 47 53 Q 33 54 Qq 32–33; C&AG‘s Report, para 18 55 Q 6; C&AG‘s Report, para 2.18 56 Q 6; C&AG‘s Report, Figure 9 57 Q 6 17 cases do not proceed on the day expected. HMCTS told us that there is an assessment of listing policies under way by the judiciary, and we look forward to its report, which is due in the spring.58 Show less

View Details →

The NAO report charts a sharp increase in 2022 in the number of ineffective trials due to the unavailability of counsel, when it went up to 4,136 compared to 279 in 2021. While the impact of industrial action by the … Read more The NAO report charts a sharp increase in 2022 in the number of ineffective trials due to the unavailability of counsel, when it went up to 4,136 compared to 279 in 2021. While the impact of industrial action by the Criminal Bar Association in 2022 is clear, it is concerning that the number of trials that did not go ahead for this reason in 2023, after the industrial action had finished, remained many times that for the years before 2022.59 MoJ acknowledged that the number of barristers and solicitors working on criminal cases had been in long–term decline.60 It pointed to a recent upturn in the number of barristers working more than 80% of their time on criminal cases, from 2,424 in 2020–21 to 2,726 in 2023–24, which it attributed to it increasing legal aid fees following the review by Sir Christopher Bellamy.61 Although MoJ acknowledged that the decrease in the number of solicitors was only “stabilising”, it pointed to the recent increase in fees for solicitors which has yet to have an effect.62 Although MoJ told us that the number of trials that do not go ahead on the scheduled day because of an absence of prosecution or defence barristers is beginning to decrease, we remain concerned.63 Show less

View Details →

In the 2021 Spending Review, MoJ received an additional £477 million to support recovery across the criminal justice system, including to help reduce the Crown Court backlog which then stood at around 60,000. MoJ also secured an additional £644 million a year by 2024–25 to expand capacity across courts, prisons …

View Details →

As the NAO report found, MoJ cannot put a figure on how much has been spent on addressing the backlog in the Crown Court, as actions to address the backlog are spread over different parts of the criminal justice system.73 Judicial and staffing capacity, physical court capacity, the rate at …

View Details →

We asked witnesses for a breakdown of the £477 million received in the 2021 Spending Review, and an outline of what it achieved. We were told that it “depends on what the counterfactual is”. Without that funding, MoJ told us that the backlog would have been “even worse” and that …

View Details →